(East-West Question) Zheng Tuyou: How did the Chinese city god culture take root overseas?
China News Agency, Shanghai, March 29th: Zheng Tuyou: How did the Chinese city god culture take root overseas?
Author Li Pengfan Zhonghua
"Chenghuang" is one of the most common local folk beliefs in Chinese religious culture. From the metropolis to the county seat, and even some towns, the temples of the City God are evenly distributed like a network, with a large number of sacrificial activities and participants.
At the same time, the image of the God of the City God is often very local, usually a respected parental official or a local hero.
Surprisingly, in Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and other places, there are also a large number of Chenghuang Temples, which even have an important influence on the lives of local people.
Where is the vitality of the City God culture?
How did the extremely local belief in the Chinese city god take root and bear fruit overseas?
What kind of "root" value does this folk traditional belief have for Chinese at home and abroad?
Zheng Tuyou, professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Fudan University, vice-chairman of the Chinese Folk Writers Association, and vice-chairman of the Chinese Folklore Association, pointed out in an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East-West Questions" that Chenghuang culture is a combination of overseas Chinese, overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese. It is an important spiritual bond that connects the Chinese homeland and integrates into overseas localities with its inclusiveness, which is a bridge to spread Chinese civilization and traditional values.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: When did China's city god culture originate? Why does it have a deep civil foundation?
Zheng Tuyou:
"City God" is the product of imagining two concrete objects, "city wall" and "moat".
As for its origin, I think it can be traced back to the Neolithic Age seven or eight thousand years ago, because a trench was found around many Neolithic settlement sites to defend against the invasion of enemies and beasts.
From this, it can be inferred that trenches and stone (mud) walls may have coexisted around Neolithic settlements to protect the safety of those who lived there.
Under the domination of the original animistic concept, the ancestors deified it and worshipped it regularly to express their gratitude for the protection.
Therefore, it can be said that the prototype of the City God God should be the protector of primitive villages.
At present, the "zhai gods" in some villages in China are the remains of them.
Chinese cities are developed on the basis of villages. When the city develops to a certain scale, the simple defensive buildings are replaced by tall city walls, and the surrounding ditches also become moats. ".
In the evolution of the city god, its function has always been the local protector.
In the Han Dynasty, the concept of an upright person after death was the City God God. In the Tang Dynasty, the City God God evolved into a local official in the underworld, and the Temple of the City God began to appear sporadically all over the country.
The Ming Dynasty was a turning point in the development of the Chenghuang belief. In the first year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict that all cities above the county level should build the Temple of the City God, and later expanded to some economically developed towns to build a city that is completely consistent with the administrative hierarchy. Chenghuang belief system.
This concept of using folk beliefs to serve the country and "co-governance with yin and yang" contributed to the great development of the city god culture, and this model continued to the Qing Dynasty.
The City God Temple in Huangpu District, Shanghai, taken in 2018.
Photo by Wang Gang issued by China News Agency
The City God culture had a great influence on the development of ancient Chinese cities. With the Temple of the City God as the center, the belief in the City God gathered the people and enabled the rapid formation and prosperity of the city.
The city god culture is also a unique folk belief with the city as the main body.
China News Service reporter: Among the many folk beliefs in the world, what is the particularity of the Chenghuang belief?
Zheng Tuyou:
The characteristics of the city god culture are: first, as mentioned above, it prospered due to the interaction between the government and the people. The essence is unified, thus forming a resultant force.
Second, "City God God" is a general term, and each place will focus on a specific image, usually the first local magistrate or prefect, or a person who has made great contributions to the local area, or a famous country in history Heroes, or upright and kind people, etc., essentially embody the hero worship of the people and their gratitude to these people.
On March 3, 2018, the City God Blessing Cultural Event originated from the ancient City God Temple Festival was held at the City God Temple in Guangzhou.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin
The third is that the layout of the City God Temple is based on the ancient administrative system, reflecting the concept of "yin and yang" in Chinese culture that they coordinate and govern together.
The City God is responsible for spiritual and moral governance. For example, the City God Temple will have a big abacus hanging on the mountain gate, which means that "man's calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation", and disciplines people not to do immoral things; the couplets in the City God Temple are all persuasion. The theme of human kindness; at the same time, when local officials take office, they must first worship the City God God, which is also a constraint and deterrent to the future behavior of local officials... Therefore, the City God Temple can be regarded as the moral education field of the city.
In December 2020, in Qionghai, Hainan, people held a Tempering Ceremony in front of the Temple of the City God.
Photo by China News Agency Meng Zhongde
Therefore, it can be said that the locality and universality of the God of the City God are integrated into one. First, the spirits and values of integrity, loyalty, and serving the people embodied by the God of the City God in different places are basically the same; in addition, the God of the City God punishes evil and promotes The functions of being good, protecting the city and protecting the people, eliminating disasters, and supervising the people are the same.
In addition, it is worth noting that the formation of the Chenghuang culture was hardly influenced by foreign religions and was a relatively pure local belief.
China News Service reporter: When the Chenghuang belief spreads overseas and takes root with the overseas Chinese, how is its "locality" reflected?
Zheng Tuyou:
The belief in the city god goes abroad with the footsteps of the Chinese, and the "locality" is mainly reflected in two aspects: First, the Chinese will bring the local city god god in their hometown to worship overseas through the "fragrance sharing" ceremony to pray to the gods in their hometown. Bless.
The so-called "distributing incense" is to bring some incense ashes from the incense burner to reshape the statues and build temples overseas, thereby becoming an emotional connection between the Chinese and their hometowns.
For example, at the temple fair held at the Chenghuang Temple in Anxi, Fujian, the overseas Chinese from Singapore and Malaysia return to China one month in advance every year to prepare for the worship, which can serve thousands of pig heads at a time.
The reason why it is so grand is precisely because they believe that it is very important to recognize the ancestors and return to the ancestors after "dividing the fragrance".
The more important point is that after the Chenghuang belief was brought overseas by the Chinese, it has an obvious spiritual bond function. The Chenghuang Temple has become the connecting link and spiritual pillar of the Chinese in a certain area. Through temple fairs and other activities, they can be more closely connected with each other. .
On July 20, 2021, the "2021 China-Southeast Asia Taoist City God Culture Series Activities" opened in Zhejiang Yiwu City God Temple.
The Taoist Federation of Singapore, the Taoist Federation of Malaysia, the Federation of Three Religious Temples in Indonesia, the Taoist Federation of Thailand and the Chinese Taoist Federation of the Philippines participated in the conference via video link.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Li Hanxue
Why is Chenghuang culture widely spread overseas?
First of all, because the "protection" function of the God of the City God is precisely what Chinese people who have crossed the ocean and want to establish a foothold in unfamiliar places pay special attention to.
In addition, in Chinese culture, "kinship" is the most important factor to unite people's hearts, followed by "geography". However, overseas, people from all over the world often live together in large numbers. It is very important to have a common local belief at this time.
China News Service reporter: At present, many Chinese have already taken root overseas and integrated into the local area. Has the meaning of folk beliefs such as city god culture evolved?
Zheng Tuyou: At
present, folk beliefs have two meanings for overseas Chinese.
First, folk beliefs are an important link between overseas Chinese and the Chinese nation, such as Chenghuang belief, Mazu belief, etc. Every year, many overseas Chinese return to China to worship the main temple.
In recent years, our country has also made a lot of efforts in this regard. For example, the Guandi Temple in Yuncheng, Shanxi, attracts overseas Chinese who believe in Guandi to worship through activities every year.
Second, after Chinese folk beliefs take root in foreign countries with the Chinese, they will take the Chinese as the center, exert influence in the larger local social circle, and attract people from other ethnic groups to join.
In fact, beliefs are about values, and as folk beliefs spread, they will gradually have an impact on other ethnic groups.
This is what we call "people-to-people bond".
Compared with the collision of macro ideology, this communication based on belief and identity formed in folk exchanges will become a channel for mutual understanding and dialogue between different civilizations and cultures.
In fact, the culture of the city god is extremely inclusive. Overseas, the belief of the city god and the local beliefs are constantly being integrated. In addition to the main god and main rituals, some new contents have appeared, which can be enjoyed by more local people. accept.
On February 24, 2019, Taoists in Guangzhou used a sedan chair to carry the "City God Lord" out of the Temple of the City God.
On the same day, the cultural activity of praying for the city god, which originated from the ancient city god temple sacrifice, was held at the city god temple in Guangzhou.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Jimin
China News Service reporter: Will traditional Chinese folk beliefs gradually decline among the second or even third generation of overseas Chinese?
Zheng Tuyou:
In fact, traditional folk beliefs are more prosperous and popular among young Chinese overseas than among young people in China.
This is to a large extent because for more than a hundred years, mainland China has adhered to the educational concept of breaking superstition and following modern science, which has caused an intergenerational gap in traditional beliefs. On the contrary, the traditional beliefs of going overseas have been retained and inherited among local Chinese. passed on from generation to generation.
There are many young people who come back from overseas to worship the City God and other groups every year.
In the past two or three decades, China has advocated the importance and protection of traditional culture, especially the development of intangible cultural heritage protection, and has done a lot of textual research and rectification of folk belief culture, which has also evoked the revival of folk belief in recent years.
However, looking at the current folk belief and cultural activities in mainland China, the phenomenon of homogeneity is serious, and different belief cultures have not yet highlighted their own characteristics, which also needs to be considered and improved.
(over)
Interviewee Profile:
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Zheng Tuyou, male, born in April 1962, Ph.D. in literature and art, is currently a professor and doctoral tutor of the Chinese Department of Fudan University.
He is also the vice chairman of the Chinese Folk Writers Association, the vice chairman of the Chinese Folklore Association, a member of the National Ministry of Culture and Tourism's intangible cultural heritage protection expert database, the vice chairman of the Shanghai Folk Writers Association, and the vice chairman of the Shanghai Yanhuang Culture Research Association.
Since the 1980s, Zheng Tuyou has been engaged in research on folk beliefs, folk literature, and intangible cultural heritage protection for a long time.