Story Performance And Cultural Practice

Cui Fujun’s belief originated in Taihang Mountain region as prevailing center,and its virtuousness extends to the north and south of China.Cui Fujun has become one of the typical regional gods in more than ten provinces such as Hebei,Shanxi,Zhejiang,Shandong,Yunnan.Locals have built him temples and passed down his legends.This is the result of the constant interaction between the central dynasty and the local society under the "standardization" and "orthodoxy" of Cui Fujun’s belief for the purpose of maintaining local social stability.With the change of folk beliefs and the transformation of literary writing methods in Tang and Song Dynasties,Cui Fujun’s belief also began to change.The image of Cui Fujun shows the development context from "the fixed identity of judge" to "the fixed identity of belief".In different historical contexts,the worship of Cui Fujun constantly presents the process of "re-creation".His belief has two properties at the same time.the national sacrifice and folk belief.Based on the extant literature,it can be speculated that the prototype of Cui Fujun should be "plural",and there are at least two prototypes of Cui Fujun.One of is from Shanxi province and the other is from Hebei province.The Cui Fujun of Shanxi was named Cui Yuanjing.He was the magistrate of Zhangzi county and had unusual policies such as “Yi Die She Hu”.Hebei’s Cui Fujun is officially recognized and appears to be the mainstream of belief,but he has "lost his name" or is called "Cui Ziyu",saying that he also had unusual policies,but the policies were not specific.Although later generations often confuse them,but the two “Cui Fujung” are definitely different,one is the magistrate of Zhangzi county and the other is the magistrate of Fuyang county.In the Song Dynasty,Cui Fujun became the Cui Fujun in the underworld by chance.Under the promotion,support and protection of the emperor of the Song Dynasty,the belief of Cui Fujun was popularized in the Song Dynasty and its influence also expanded.After the failure of the Song Dynasty,Cui Fujun lost the support and its status quickly dropped to the level of local god.But at the same time,the status of Cui Fujun as the companion god of Dongyue developed greatly due to the instigation of the Jin and Yuan dynasties,and was widely worshiped by people.In modern times,the two images of Cui Fujun as the local god and the companion god of Dongyue merged into one in Shanxi,Hebei and other places.In order to maintain the harmony and stability of the local society,the central government continuously "depicted" Cui Fujun as "loyal to the court","clean and honest","diligent and fair",and "good governance for the people","keep environment and people safe and secure" under the purposes of "standardization" and "orthodoxy" of the gods.Cui Fujun‘s image was a good official who respects the people and respects by the people which can meet the needs of both the national and local government.In the process of "standardization" and "orthodoxy" of the gods,the central government has mainly enshrined Cui Fujun for many times,while local officials,gentry and other elite groups have created the "Lingying" miracle of Cui Fujun with the help of social and historical events.Since the Tang Dynasty,the stories of Cui Fujun have been passed down endlessly and timelessly.Drawing on the story typology,we interpret the stories of Cui Fujun one by one,such as his life experience,natural features,efficacious stories and other themes,and further explore the characteristics of its "localization" and "super-localization".From the constantly changing and developing of Cui Fujun’s stories,the types of Cui Fujun stories with local characteristics and the new form of inheritance of Cui Fujun stories under the background of the new era can be summarized.The story of Cui Fujun has formed a story circle with a fixed "memorial" as the core in the process of evolution over time.From the stories of Cui Fujun circulating across the country,we can see the path and geographical distribution of his beliefs.The existing Cui Fujun temples in Changzhi and Jincheng of Shanxi,Cixian of Hebei and other places provide visible memorials for the story,and outline the complete story circle of Cui Fujun.Temples are the practice spaces of belief,and building temples,offering sacrifices in the Spring and Autumn period,and giving performances in the society have become the main folk activities of Cui Fujun Temple.These sacrificial acts and folk activities are one of the important inheritance forms of Cui Fujun’s story.The story of Cui Fujun is passed down from generation to generation through language and landscape narration and folk behaviors,and it is the result of the collective memory of the locals.Through the sorting out of historical documents and the collection of story texts,we found that the inheritance status of Cui Fujun’s story is not a temporary development.The formation of the story is a dynamic construction process,which not only includes the original storyline,historical and cultural elements,but also a new mark that conforms to the development of the times.In the process of development,the life history of Cui Fujun’s story is gradually formed.The development of Cui Fujun’s story presents multi-dimensional characteristics.It is the product of the co-work of local governments,beneficiary groups,cultural elites,and cultural scholars.Taking the Cui Fujun Temple Fair in Luzhou District,Changzhi City,Shanxi Province as a case,we discuss the mutual construction of Cui Fujun’s story and the temple fair ceremony,and Shen Cuiping’s ordination process from the perspective of women’s folklore through the female subject of the temple blessing Shen Cuiping.Today,with the rapid development of modernization and diversification,based on the urban space,Cui Fujun’s story can be practiced and reborn,and it is can be vividly found in people’s daily life through various performances.At present,the story of Cui Fujun,as an important local historical and cultural wealth,has promoted the re-creation of the local cultural resources.