Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsXiamen, FujianBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

There are many theories of the origins of the "Wangye" (Royal Lords), the most prominent being that a Wangye is a great god who patrols the world on behalf of Heaven to examine human good and evil.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Fujian-Taiwan Wangchuan (Sending the Royal Lord's Boat) is a folk belief preserved in the coastal villages of Xiamen, Fujian, that venerates the Wangye who "patrols on behalf of Heaven" (daitian xunshou). Belief in the Wangye is widely spread along the coast of southern Fujian and in Taiwan's fishing villages, and is especially flourishing in southern Taiwan, where it stands alongside the Mazu belief of central Taiwan; as the saying goes: "Wangye in the south, Mazu in the center. " The practice at Huazang Nunnery in Lücao Village, Xike Town, Tong'an District, Xiamen, of asking the Wangye for "medicine lots" is quite influential in southern Fujian. Temples enshrining the Wangye are mostly called "Daitian Fu" (Halls of the Heavenly Patrol), and the Wangye are also called "Patrollers on Heaven's Behalf" (daitian xunshou). The Wangchuan ceremony is a folk-belief rite activity for sending off plague and praying for blessing. Juan 2 of the Kangxi-era Taihai Shicha Lu records: "every three years the royal boats, with goods prepared and the jiao penitence rite established. " The Qianlong-era Haicheng County Gazetteer records in detail the Wangchuan ceremony held in the winter of the jichou year (1769). The timing of Wangchuan activities varies from place to place; most are held once every three or four years, with the specific day determined by casting the jiao (divination blocks) within a fixed lunar month. A royal boat of wood or paper is made; the Wangye is invited into it, and it is loaded with real articles of daily use; the faithful crowd around it, accompanied by drums and music, escorting it to the seaside to be burned. This project is of great significance for carrying forward the fine traditions of the Chinese nation, strengthening the cohesion of the Chinese nation, and promoting the reunification of the motherland.

Casting lots to fix the day

Every three or four years lots are cast before the temple to fix the day within a chosen lunar month, then subscriptions and preparations begin.

Inviting the deity aboard

The deity image is carried aboard, the cabin lined with red cloth, and household goods loaded so the ship is supplied for its voyage.

The drum-led escort to the shore

Crowds and drums escort the vessel to the shore, where it stops short of the water at the point where plague was believed to depart by water.

Drawing medicine slips at the royal temple

At Huazang hermitage in Lücuo village supplicants shake out a medicine slip, sharing the temple and its keepers with the ship-sending rite.

The pantheon of a Da Tian Fu temple

Temples called Da Tian Fu house a deity who patrols the world on Heaven's behalf, attended by a full retinue arranged like an official escort.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Fujian-Taiwan Wangchuan is distributed in pockets along the southern Fujian coast: Huazang Nunnery in Lücao Village, Xike Town, Tong'an District, Xiamen, is the representative stronghold preserving the Wangye's incense on the island, with the affiliated village communities apportioning shares in the jiao rite according to population; the Zhangzhou coast centers on the Haicheng area, where villages mostly establish Daitian Fu (Halls of the Heavenly Patrol) at inlets and creeks, and before going out to sea first go to the temple to cast lots and ask after fortune. In Taiwan the density of Wangye temples in the south is higher than in the center, standing alongside the central region's Mazu belief; believers mostly connect the Wangchuan with Mazu's sea-going into a single line of maritime rites, and the styles of boats and the skills of paper-mache artisans also differ from place to place. The dates of the rites vary from place to place, most held once every three or four years, and before choosing the day, the jiao blocks are first cast within a fixed lunar month to set that day.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

With its sparse rhythm of every three to five years, the Wangchuan has preserved the most complete memory of its ritual protocol: it is the local response of the Fujian-Taiwan maritime society to epidemic and storm. Sending plague out to sea and praying for blessing are one and the same act — the unattributable disaster is for the moment carried away by the gods, and hope is then drawn back into the village. After the burnt offering no permanent altar is set up again; once the rite is done the assembly disperses, so it relies more than other beliefs on the continuity of gazetteer records and generational memory. The "three-year royal boats" recorded in the Kangxi-era Taihai Shicha Lu and the winter procedures recorded in the Qianlong-era Haicheng County Gazetteer are precisely the key evidence by which this rhythm can be reconstructed. Paper-mache, boatbuilding, drum music, and liturgical rites are the four kinds of craft brought together here, a rare comprehensive preservation sample of southern Fujian maritime folk custom.

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

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Xiamen, Fujian) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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