Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsWenzhoushilongwan, ZhejiangBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

The origin of the Tang He folk belief is tied to an old story of resisting the Japanese pirates. In the early Ming dynasty, the southeast coast was frequently harassed by wokou (Japanese pirates); the general Tang He, acting on Zhu Yuanzhang's orders, built fifty-nine guard posts along the coastline, of which the Ningcun Guard of Wenzhou was one. After the pirate menace subsided, the people, grateful for his merits, built a temple and established worship in Ningcun, a strategic stronghold of the southeast, elevating a living general into a worshipped deity. Thereafter, every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Zhongyuan (Ghost) Festival, the temple held ceremonies such as the procession of Tang He and the mourning of the souls lost to the pirate raids. Wherever the ceremonies went, people lined the roads with offerings to welcome them; over time this gradually grew into the sizable Tang He Festival, which has a history of more than four hundred years. Unlike the usual Zhongyuan Festival practice of worshipping ancestors and sending off ghosts, this belief combines mourning with procession in one, and its forms also encompass many folk art categories such as handicrafts, song and dance, and quyi (folk vocal arts), making it more like a popular festival themed on resisting the pirates. In recent years, through the organization and planning of the inheritor Xu Shunwei, this activity has established a fellowship relationship with Bengbu, the hometown of Tang He, and the Tang He Culture Research Association has been founded accordingly. The inheritor has participated in it since childhood, collected historical materials at the library, and compiled and published books such as The Anti-Pirate Hero Tang He and Research on Tang He and Culture, sorting out the origins of this local folk belief into a verifiable genealogy.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Folk beliefs, also called "popular beliefs," are conventional traditional ideas formed by people in the long course of production and daily life; under the domination of such ideas, the populace develops psychological and behavioral identification with certain folk phenomena. The Tang He folk belief is a kind of folk culture circulated in the Wenzhou area of southern Zhejiang and is the most typical individual case among China's ancient Zhongyuan Festival customs. In the early Ming dynasty, the southeast coast was frequently harassed by wokou (Japanese pirates), and the people could not bear the suffering. The general Tang He, acting on the orders of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, built fifty-nine guard posts along the coastline, of which the Ningcun Guard of Wenzhou was one. After the pirate menace subsided, the people, grateful for Tang He's merits, built a temple and established worship in Ningcun, a strategic stronghold of the southeast, and every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the Zhongyuan Festival, held ceremonies such as "the procession of Tang He" and "mourning the souls lost to the pirate raids." The whole activity lasts five days; wherever the ceremonies go, people line the roads with offerings to welcome them, and over time it gradually grew into the sizable Tang He Festival, which has a history of more than four hundred years. It goes beyond the general Zhongyuan Festival customs of worshipping ancestors and sending off ghosts, and its forms encompass many folk art categories such as handicrafts, song and dance, and quyi (folk vocal arts).

The general's procession

The deity's outing on the fifteenth of the seventh month is the climax, households lining the route with offerings.

Commemorating those lost to pirates

Alongside the procession the rites mourn those killed by raiders, giving the mid-year ancestral feast a graver ground.

The five-day term

Five days of observance give the whole coastal region a rare common festival, solemn and lively at once.

Welcoming along the route

Families set tables and burn incense along the route, official ritual and spontaneous welcome meeting in one gesture.

The character-building dragon lantern

A dragon lantern built from characters took a national medal and a Shanhua award, the cult's most successful new form.

The old garrison site at Ningcun

Ningcun was one of the Ming garrison towns, and the shrine's object of worship still speaks to the coastal defences around it.

Links with Tang He's home in Bengbu

The inheritor built ties with Tang He's hometown in Bengbu and founded a research association, reconnecting the cult to its origin.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Tang He folk belief has a far-reaching influence in the southeast coastal region and is broadly popular and spontaneous.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The deities worshipped in traditional folk belief are an important source of the genesis of folk beliefs; praying for blessings and avoiding harm is the inner reason why traditional folk beliefs continue to be transmitted; and the aggregation of various folk cultural expressive forms constitutes the cultural space of folk beliefs. Two major themes—patriotism and remembering the forebears—are infused into this folk belief; it expresses the people's esteem and love for national heroes and contributes to the promotion of the Chinese national spirit and the transmission and development of fine traditional morality. Xu Shunwei (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Han ethnicity, born in January 1962, from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. He has participated in the Tang He folk belief since childhood, modestly consulting his elders, and collected historical materials at the library, continually deepening his understanding of this belief. In recent years he has organized and planned this activity, established a fellowship relationship with Bengbu, the hometown of Tang He, and founded the Tang He Culture Research Association. He is a representative inheritor of the folk belief (Tang He folk belief), a project of national-level intangible cultural heritage in the fifth national-level batch. He has compiled and published books such as The Anti-Pirate Hero Tang He and Research on Tang He and Culture, organized the "character-forming dragon lantern" to take part in the national dragon dance exhibition, winning a gold medal, and received the Mountain Flower Award of Chinese Folk Literature and Art. Ningcun, where he lives, has been designated a demonstration site for cultural development in Zhejiang by the Publicity Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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