Miaohui, the Temples Meeting Festival in a North China Area

chiINFORMATION na Miaohui, the Temples China,2007,University. © Leiden Modern for Copyright Centre Research and Documentation The [DOI:455–477 Vol10.1177/0920203X07083323 (3) XX1 Meeting Festival in a North China Area

X udo n g Z h ao a n d D ur a n B e ll

Abstract We examine the multiple purposes and modalities that convergeY during a circuit of festivals, miaohui, that temples organize in recognition of local gods and which are attended reciprocally by temple representatives fromL the surrounding area in North China. The festivals involve intense expressions of devotion to one or more deities, while offering an opportunity for representatives of other villages to seek recognition through rather boisterous drumming and prolonged choreographed dancing. We note also the emergenceN of Mao as a great god whose legacy as Chairman of the CCP is projected in order to legitimate current Party leadership and their policy of reform while concurrently acting as a powerful denial of those same policies from the perspectiveO of villagers. Keywords miaohui, popular religion, ritual, Mao cult, North China Authors’ affiliation Zhao Xudong is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology, College of Humanities and Development, China Agricultural University, People’s Republic of China. DuranF Bell is a professor at the Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine, USA. O In this article, we consider a ritual that is annually practiced in many villages of North China, miaohui (庙会). Our points of observation are Fanzhuang and a number of neighboring villages in the south of Hebei Province. In Fanzhuang, miaohui is celebratedO for several days during the early part of the second lunar month. It is a grand meeting and many temple organizations near Fanzhuang areR expected to participate. While each attending village presents its own festival, there is a measure of prestige to be invited to the festival in Fanzhuang, an administrative town among the local villages. For all who participate,P there are occasions for prayer to the many gods that are represented, and occasions for dancing and joy among the many participants. There is recognition of the superiority of the gods among men, as well as recognition of the superiority of some dead men among the living, and

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China Information XX1 (3) 456 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 456 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting

Y Y L L N N Figure 1 Women dancing in the streets of Nanzhuang, 26 March 2005

O attention will be given to them later. Most obviously,O the size and regional significance of Fanzhuang must be noted and with that size, and perhaps because of it, there is a much larger number of gods represented. Secondly, F the god of primary importance to the rituals may differ from one village to another. In Fanzhuang it was the DragonF King, while in Nanzhuang, it was an ambiguously identified “lao mu” (老母) in the smaller, lineage-based miaohui that took place in March; and it was a dragon god, Zhangye (张爷), in O Nanzhuang’s larger, village-level, Omiaohui that took place in November. Given the prevalence of drought conditions in the countryside of North China, it is to be expected that village gods who have an ability to secure rainfall would O be predominant. O

R The people and the land: the meaning of center and hierarchyR in miaohui P The festivals to whichP we shall direct attention occur in Zhao county, Hebei Province, in North China. The villages are all situated in the eastern part of the county and administrated by Fanzhuang Township. It is said that part of the area is in an ancient path of the Hutuo River; and for this reason, it is

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China Information XX1 (3) 458 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 458 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao

the region, the miaohui of Fanzhuang is the most magnificent; and several scholars, especially folklorists, have described it.�4 The miaohui in Fanzhuang Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting also involves the greatest financial expenditure and reputation, the largest number of people attending, and the greatest presumed efficacy of its gods. Consequently, many villages attempt to join its cycle of reciprocity. In 2000, the number of the temple organizations taking part in the miaohui in Fanzhuang appeared to be more than 100, while in Nanzhuang and Changxin, the numbers were less than 50. The villagers are proud of the miaohui of their village, and they are eager to boost its reputation. On the days of miaohui, many scholars, television crews, Y and photographers are invited to observe the proceedings. As aY result of publicity and scholarly examination, these festivals are known all over China L and even outside of it. People come from Beijing and even from abroad. On the days of miaohui, the calligraphic scrolls or precious-inks,L 墨宝 in patois, are exhibited. At the bottom of each so-called precious-ink is a small card on N which the name, title, country, and so forth, of visiting scholars and experts are written. In this way there is concrete confirmation Nof the central place of the temple in the world. Indeed, when Bell interviewed people in Changxin, he was asked about the absence of his colleague Zhao at the time of its O previous miaohui. Since the latter had consistentlyO attended their festival in recent years, there was a very evident concern that his absence implied a loss of recognized importance for their festival. F The local significance of miaohui can, perhaps, be best illustrated by reference to Changxin, a small pear-growingF village adjacent to Nanzhuang. It is a town much poorer than Nanzhuang, with a conspicuous indication of O impoverishment in the form of an entry passage-way that seems always to be flooded by one foot of water. AfterO not finding the veterinarian who was the official organizer of the village miaohui, we were directed to the home of O another man, finding his wife and child sleeping on a concrete floor near the front door. Upon learningO of our interest, the man rapidly departed and returned with an armful of wall hangings. He then provided us with the R story of their village goddess.R The story is as follows: Almost two thousand years ago, a girl of this village (whose surname was Jiaˇ P (贾), the same Pas that of our host) was working in a field when a man on horse- back rushed in her direction, chased by a group of armed men. The girl offered protective shelter to the man and bandaged his wounds; and when it was safe for him to leave, he did so. However, the girl’s father feared impropriety and made

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China Information XX1 (3) 460 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 460 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao

things, such as offerings, incense, food, and paper money, are piled up in a mound and burned. Everybody worships on bended knees around the Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting burning mound. On the morning of the sixth day, the Tablet is moved again, this time to the main room of the person who will be leader in the next year. And during that evening, after supper, all 19 heads get together in the home of the new leader and examine financial accounts of the ritual in front of the Dragon Tablet. After all the heads agree with the balance of the incense- oil-money donated voluntarily by the participants of the miaohui, a list of income and cost of the miaohui in that year is burned in front of the Dragon Tablet. When this ritual is accomplished, a new (sacred) center is recognized Y in the village, a fact that is more fully consolidated on the eighth Yday with a ritual of chanting scriptures, known as yuan tan (圆坛) in patois, intended to L make the new location of the Tablet more stable. Recently, an ancient origin of the Fanzhuang miaohui wasL invented and new collective memories have been given substance and life. As it hap- N pens, Liu Qiyin, a folklorist who lives in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, had occasion to observe the Dragon TabletN Festival in 1994. As he watched it, he recalled studies conducted in rural Hebei Province by his professors at Beijing Normal University. On the basis of his professors’ find- O ings, he concluded that the Dragon Tablet mustO be directly connected with the Gou Dragon that in ancient times represented the whole Chinese nation. With these associations asserted, Liu became very excited and promoted the F idea that Fanzhuang’s festival was a “living fossil” (活化石), originating in prehistoric times when people prayed toF a dragon whose exploits are legen- dary. In other words, the Dragon Tablet of Fanzhuang has its place within O the very origin of the Chinese people. Although there remains the notion that the Dragon Tablet arose initiallyO in response to a local need for rain, it is becoming more common in Fanzhuang for its origin to be found in the Gou O Dragon. In 1997, an illustration of this genealogy was inscribed on a large rectangular board, and eachO year it has stood near the entrance of the marquee on the days of miaohui. R In this collusion between a scholar and the temple heads, a new memory has been invented. AndR the ease with which it is accepted is prompted by a general perception among villagers that the Dragon Tablet is at the center P of the world. AnyP statements on the central importance of their temple can never be dismissed. On the Dragon Tablet there is the inscription: “Seat of the Spirit of the Dragon, True Commander of the Ten Sections and the

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China Information XX1 (3) 462 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 462 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting

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N Figure 2 Opera in Gaofeng (seen from the stage), 26 March 2005N O in large numbers, joyfully shy of our cameras; and the leaders of the miaohui led Bell onto a wing of the stage so that he could beO noticed by all in attendance. The international significance of this miaohui had been firmly established. In the absence of, or in addition to, operas provided by the host village, F there are performances provided by visitingF villages. These performances are less grand but rather extraordinary, nevertheless. In these cases, people from other villages arrive in costume, play drums, and dance for the host village O and guests. The village miaohui that took place in Nanzhuang in November (October in the lunar calendar) wasO noteworthy for the seemingly competitive nature of the performances provided by visitors. O We asked one of the visitors to explain the purpose of the dancing and were told that they dancedO for the gods. This claim is plausible, given that the god in question was Zhangye, a dragon who appeared in human form R at some indeterminateR time in the past. Presumably, this person might enjoy the dancing. However, it is clear that those whose attention was on Zhangye P were under the marquee singing and praying, while those outside in the street were dancingP to the public. For the visiting villages, the celebration of Zhangye seemed to be largely an occasion for a competitive display on the turf of the host. At one point, there seemed to be total pandemonium as the drumming under the marquee merged with the drumming and dancing of

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China Information XX1 (3) 464 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 464 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao

of trade and marriage—关系. When one interviews the organizers of a miaohui, one is likely to receive an exaggerated estimate of the number of Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting temples that are commonly in attendance. This number is one that can rank each village relative to others. Hence, the attending villages gain importance through performance while receiving villages gain importance from the number in attendance. We should not forget, however, that miaohui is a religious festival and the host village provides something rather exceptional; it provides its god and the ling of its god for any who seek the benefits thereof. For example, in the recent past, some of the visitors to Nanzhuang had been suffering drought Y and had came to pray to Zhangye during miaohui. Although prayersY to their own god had failed to produce results, sufficient rain followed their prayers to L Zhangye. Subsequently, this village has been in very regular attendance; and they have adopted Zhangye as one of their own gods. However,L visitors do not pursue a competition among divinities. They do not arrive with depictions N of their own god placed in front of their procession. It is not the gods who must compete for space and attention, but the visitorsN themselves. Visitors offer entertainment. The entertainment is an alternative focus that directs people away from the marquee and into the streets. While some visitors O come to Nanzhuang because of the recognizedO ling of Zhangye, most come for other reasons and never approach the marquee. Instead, they dance for the crowd, rest, and then dance again. We can see that the festival offers F multiple layers of meaning, which are interpreted and/or used by different persons in different ways.6 F As one watches and experiences the surrounding bedlam, one may sense O a near incompatibility of the ritual under the marquee with the activities outside. Those on the outside came,O performed, and disappeared; most of those on the inside sang and prayed for endless hours—singing in unison, O paced by drums and cymbals—and sending burnt offerings to Zhangye. If there had been dancing underO the marquee, then this dancing would have been integral to the ritual. But few, if any, of the dancers ever approached R the marquee. Theirs is a competition among communities, not a meeting of temples. Moreover,R in the past (at least in many villages), miaohui may have functioned as essential components of annual or semiannual markets, P as Dean suggestsP for Southeast China,7 and the festivals are scheduled to coincide with the rhythms of agriculture, making it timely for itinerant merchants to arrive with equipment and other infrequently purchased items.

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China Information XX1 (3) 466 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 466 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao

(as in the case of the water god, 水祠娘娘), thereby integrating the emperor and his staff seamlessly into the system of deities and creating a uniform Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting bureaucratic system of imperial and spirit powers.11 By the time of the Tang dynasty, Buddhism and Taoism had become state-supported orthodoxies— expressing an elite culture that joined with Confucianism in supporting the status quo. But popular religion was never controllable. It might be used by local elites for their own purposes, but the content and dynamics of popular cults were commonly unpredictable and (with some justification) feared by the state. According to Seiwert, “popular religious culture was a turbulent flow that was difficult to control and to channel into the calmer current of Y the orthodox traditions. Time and again these turbulences swelled and some- 12 Y times they swept away dynasties.” L In contrast with a centralized form of power that has been common to Western states, the state in China has been and remains stronglyL decentral- ized in its administrative and ritual dimensions. Relative to people of the vil- N lages of China, the state has been very far away;13 and the system of power has been perceived to be very multifaceted with a highlyN ranked bureaucratic system whose local administrators have limited power to provide benefits but great power to punish. The domain of the gods has been not very differ- O ent. In addition to a local god who might be specificO to a given village, there would be a panoply of gods of various powers to which ritual appeals could be made. But unlike their earthly counterparts, these gods were subject to F direct appeal; and some had fabled willingness to respond, as the following testifies: “When we farmers seek a bit of Frain the government cadres are use- less, they cannot give us any, so the Dragon King is the head of us who suffer O bitterness. He is very effective (特别灵).”14 Apparently, rain has fallen after every rain ceremony, sufficient to Osow some seed. Hence, village rituals are not symbolic of state power; they are more important as substitutes for a state that is unable or unwilling to provide O 15 assistance. Furthermore, Oin our observations of miaohui, we are impressed by the simplicity of its presentation. No great wealth is manifested here. The R representations of the gods are not elaborately carved statues. Indeed, in the villages that we studied,R the gods are depicted in two-dimensional drawings, taped to a cloth that forms the rear of the enclosure or marquee. P The modern ChineseP state classifies popular religion as superstition and as inconsistent with its scientific industrialization program. The forces of the state are arrayed as contrary forces that attack local belief and ritual. Such religions, having a basis in an earlier “feudal” society and having spirits and

467

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China Information XX1 (3) 468 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 468 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao

officially a museum that would be of value in attracting tourists, but quite transparently it was also to be an active temple.21 Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting There is evidence that the policy of the government and of Party leaders has softened. The Party leader in Nanzhuang dismisses miaohui as old fashioned, but he claims that people have a right to practice such ritual. And when we interviewed managers of miaohui in other villages, we were told that there was no longer any fear of official sanction. There was only one exception and this exception is interesting. In a large village, Yanghu, that contained four temples, there is one temple that is “Buddhist.” Indeed, people in other temples claimed, in error, that Y this temple had a resident monk. In fact this temple is locatedY in a local schoolhouse to which villagers have limited access, and the government L has not allowed the building of a real temple. Furthermore, the only god depicted in the school is lao mu (perhaps, it is Guanyin). But accordingL to the miaohui leader, the government regards their ritual as superstition. The vil- N lager clearly did not understand why his temple could not be rebuilt which others are allowed, especially since Buddhism carries aN degree of legitimacy. The problem for this temple, we surmise, is that its god is the Maitreya, or the future Buddha; and for many centuries whenever the emperor seemed to O have lost the Mandate of Heaven, amidst famineO and warfare, there would arise within the peasantry a belief that the arrival of the future Buddha was eminent and that He would establish a new dynasty. Hence, the Maitreya F carries an insurrectionary portfolio not known to this villager. The revival of popular religion, temples,F and festivals has attracted the interest of a number of anthropologists. Wolf considers the “new feudal- O ism” and its psychological bases;22 Yang focuses on the evolving nature of modernity discourse in the contextO of global capitalism, borrowing from George Bataille’s theory on ritual expenditure.23 Feuchtwang and Wang O introduce a comparison between mainland China and Taiwan.24 And finally, Jing Jun from the “social memoryO perspective” describes a process by which a temple dedicated to Confucius was reconstructed.25 The temple was rebuilt, R destroyed, and then rebuilt again in a Dachuan village in Gansu Province of Northwest China. AccordingR to Jing Jun, this process can be given a social meaning through the construction of a collective memory. P The gods of popularP religion are, in general, members of a pantheon of greater and lesser gods—a hierarchy, modeled along the lines of the imperial system. In Fanzhuang this hierarchy was evident, given that a number of gods were represented, each in a location or size that reflected its rank among

469

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China Information XX1 (3) 470 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 470 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting

Y Y L L

N Figure 4 The apotheosis of Chairman Mao (Nanzhuang) N

O Chairman Mao is the great god (大神) who is the bigger than other gods, such as ox-ghosts, snake-god (牛鬼蛇神). When he comesO out as a god, these other small ones can’t be coming out; and the world will be calm. The reason for the disorder F (不太平) in recent years in China is just because Mao had not yet become a god. It should be pointed out that 牛鬼蛇神 (theF small gods) is a derogatory term that has been used to characterize members of the intelligentsia and various power elites in the Mao period. Hence, the villager quoted is reflecting criti- O cally on the current period of increasingO inequality and hierarchy in China and to his desire to reverse this circumstance by supporting Mao as god. In 2001 a picture of Mao was displayed on the top of the temple in O Nanzhuang, replacing the previousO inscription that held the title of the temple, 张爷庙 (Zhangye Temple). The reason for this, according to a villager, was to appease the village and township cadres who might otherwise interfere R with the miaohui. Mao,R whose own attitude toward “feudal superstition” is well known, could now come forth to legitimate religious practice. However, P it is likely that otherP reasons prompted the placement of Mao at the temple. For example, when we asked about the presence of Mao in a nearby village temple, we were told, “Oh, someone put it there and forgot to remove it.” Such explanations are not credible. They serve only to avoid a real discussion

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deities, although be purposes In observer not to god, as individual

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villagers that

Hence, order

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can

Fanzhuang in 2005 of

approving a peasants that miaohui people, a and

fact of comfort

dominant his

side in image.

in most lower group,

P their P of an mental

the a same In a Mao picture the others. the left

the common

poorly

of like a in complications 给庙上户口 the Changxin miaohui of believe that is in According all (

as defends respondent’s the

the villages

the different are it god.

in individuals. miaohui 27 us to conception given

sanction;

the the

manner, common in to Hou, versions

the bosses. for

the of 2002 conception of a who

placed of simply told

temple like In In While member colleagues placed appearance Mao peasants own specific in during Certainly, Party was its not izers poses ferent esses nation, people.” miaohui hui about a few official image “T’ien onto consequently, relative remember mobilized complex

China Information XX1 (3) 472 04-Zhao & Bell.indd 472 Zhao & Bell:& Zhao

realities of political domination and social inequality in the reform process— allowing peasants to detach Mao from the party of reform. However, this can Miaohui,the Temples Festival Meeting be realized only by reflecting in the spirit world a hoped-for new reality in the world of mortals; it is only by remembering a carefully constituted Mao that one can imagine a Mao who would emerge to protect them from the various demons that now confront them. The authorities dare not deny the godly status of Chairman Mao, no matter how strongly they may rail against popular religion. However, the image of Mao that is projected by the Party strategically forgets the equalitarian Mao and allows the Mao as Chairman to move to the center of attention. For both the peasants and the Party, Mao is remembered Y and forgotten, but on contrasting dimensions, reflecting Rubin’s ambiguous 29 Y L figure-ground principle. L Conclusion N While the mortal Mao accepted an imported Marxian view of religion, in his afterlife he and popular religion gain new meaningsN together in mutual fluorescence. Prayers to Mao are not seen as a substitute for state-funded irrigation projects that would provide a secure water supply. But in the O absence of such projects, and in the absence of Oofficials to whom appeals for such projects can be made, there seems to be nothing to lose by approaching the gods. In the increasingly desperate financial position of these villages, F the peasants cannot afford to dismiss any conceivable source of support. However, as we have emphasized, religiousF festivals such as miaohui offer opportunities for the achievement of a number of other objectives, some of O which seem almost contradictory relative to the singing and praying under the marquee. O The “total situation” of miaohui seems to require the confluence of the O sacred with the profane, as mature women abandon customary decorum to dance gaily in the streets ofO Nanzhuang and as opera performances provide comic relief in Gaofeng and Fanzhuang. Indeed, in Gaofeng the audience R for the opera seemed larger than the village, leaving only those women who must protect the godsR from mischief to receive us under the marquee. After all, there was neither drought nor flood to torment the people then, allowing P the gods to remainP in reserve for another day.

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8/25/2007 7:31:47 PM

de other

Pollino and in

Luisa Kawano,

Allen . festival 2005), del Yishi yu Yishi (Beijing: Research

Y village) Y , in 1986).

“Minjian (London: (Princeton,

2005);

festivals Satsuki George village Music, Antique L L China Yuhua China

Press, state), Rural-Urban See Madonna the

with

Press, (Berkeley, Late

Guo of the

and

in The N North N ed. Bingzhong, of (London:

Mediaeval

in Hawai’i

University generally. 260. Italy: of

Gao tiaozheng—Fanzhuang Earth-Bound of tradition O O Identity qi comparison at ji and change), Modernity presence