A Study Of Folk Beliefs Of Penglai In Ming And Qing Dynasties

This paper,takes the folk beliefs in Penglai of Ming and Qing Dynasties as clues and explores the relationship between the folk beliefs in Penglai of Ming and Qing Dynasties and the local society in multiple dimensions from "looking at history from the local" perspective,and then dedicates to further understand the daily life and psychological state of the elites and commoners in PenglaiFirst of all,after reviewing the history of the Penglai,this paper analyzes the social environment of Penglai folk religion’s existence and development from two aspects:geographical environment and psychological analysis.The types of Penglai folk beliefs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and its development process are discussed on the basis of the analysis above:they can be divided into natural objects belief,animals and plants belief,ancestors and ghosts belief,sages and officials belief and Confucianism-Buddhism-Taoism belief.Secondly,the author discusses how the Penglai folk beliefs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties established in the binary interaction of the state and the society under the framework of State and Society Theory.In order to maintaining the feudal political order,the rulers of Ming and Qing Dynasties gradually established and improved the official sacrifice system of the country,and then promoted it to the whole country.This paper explores the establishment of formal folk beliefs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties by taking the Confucian temple and Chenghuang temple as examples and discusses the localism of official sacrifice system by taking Mazu belief in Penglai as example.Illegal sacrifice and folk witchcraft are also discussed to understand the interaction and confrontation between officials and folks in Penglai who play important roles in the construction of Penglai folk beliefs.Thirdly,this paper explores how the Penglai folk beliefs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties participated in people’s daily life and how the people and beliefs interact with each other from three aspects:festivals and customs,economic disputes between the temple property and the people,and the daily worship and prayer of the local elites and commoners.Under the guidance of the local elites,Penglai people gradually changed to a moral,orderly and ideological direction,which is more conducive to the official control of the local society Last but not the least,the paper discusses the social functions of Penglai folk beliefs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.The social functions of Penglai folk beliefs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties are mainly as follows:soothing people’s minds and stabilizing social order;entertaining the public and promoting the development of local commodity economy;standardizing the conduct of officials and educating the public.The rulers of Ming and Qing Dynasties rationally used folk beliefs to construct the spiritual world of the people in Penglai and established the recognition of the local elites and commoners to the country.