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The Varieties of Confucian Experience The Varieties of Confucian Experience Documenting a Grassroots Revival of Tradition Edited by Sébastien Billioud LEIDEN | BOSTON For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV Contents Acknowledgements vii List of Illustrations viii Notes on Contributors xi Introduction 1 Sébastien Billioud 1 The Birth of a New Religion: The Development of the Confucian Congregation in Southeast China 17 Chen Na, Fan Lizhu and Chen Jinguo 2 Making a Virtue of Piety: Dizigui and the Discursive Practice of Jingkong’s Network 61 Ji Zhe 3 Popular Groups Promoting “The Religion of Confucius” in the Chinese Southwest and Their Activities since the Nineteenth Century (1840–2013): An Observation Centered on Yunnan’s Eryuan County and Environs 90 Wang Chien-Chuan 4 Belief and Faith: The Situation and Development of Confucianism in Yunnan Province 122 Chung Yun-ying 5 Civil Spirituality and Confucian Piety Today: The Activities of Confucian Temples in Qufu, Taipei, and Changchun 153 Nakajima Takahiro 6 The Revival of Traditional Culture and Religious Experience in Modern Urban Life: The Example of the Changchun Confucius Temple 176 Ishii Tsuyoshi 7 Contemporary Confucius Temples Life in Mainland China: Report from the Field 205 Anna Sun For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV vi Contents 8 Rites Bridging the Ancient and Modern: The Revival of Offerings at Urban Ancestral Temples 235 Chen Bisheng 9 An Adventure Called “Sishu”: The Tensions and Vagaries of a “Holistic” Educational Experience (zhengti jiaoyu) in Today’s Rural China 262 Guillaume Dutournier and Wang Yuchen 10 Confucian Revival and the Media: The CCTV “Lecture Room” Program 302 Fabrice Dulery Bibliography 331 Index 344 For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV chapter 7 Contemporary Confucius Temples Life in Mainland China: Report from the Field Anna Sun 1 Introduction Since 2000, I have conducted ethnographic research in 15 Confucius temples in Mainland China.1 Some Confucius temples have a vibrant ritual life, some do not. Why the difference? When I speak of a vibrant ritual life, I am referring to the density of rit- ual activities in Confucius temples, which can be seen in Mainland China as well as Taiwan today (the focus of this study is Confucius temple life in Mainland China). Here I am not referring to the public performance of ritu- als in Confucius temples such as the celebration of Confucius’ birthday, which are in general organized by temple management and often in collaboration with local municipal government offices. My focus is on what I call the “pri- vate rites” in Confucius temples, namely rituals performed by individuals that are not part of any public performances. Some of these rituals are traditional, some newly modified or invented. 2 Here is a list of the most commonly observed ritual activities in contempo- rary Confucius temples: 1 My greatest thanks to Sébastien Billioud for inviting me to be part of this project on Confucian piety and for being an excellent editor of this volume. I also thank the two anony- mous reviewers for their thoughtful and helpful comments. 2 See Anna Sun, Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/9789004374966_009 For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV 206 Sun table 7.1 Most commonly observed ritual activities in contemporary Confucius temples Ritual activities in Traditional rituals New or modified rituals Confucius temples 1 Burning incense in Placing packages of incense courtyard of the temple on the altar of the temple (due to fire regulations) 2 Praying to Confucius Writing prayer cards and (kneeling or bowing) hanging them on shelves or trees inside the temple 3 Offering objects of sacrifice Purchasing items of blessings (such as dry food items, (such as printed cards or silk flowers, fruits) pouches) In this chapter, I try to answer the question of the differences in ritual life in these temples by examining the social conditions under which ritual activities may thrive or wither. The density of ritual activities in a given temple does not remain constant; in fact, it is constantly changing, reflecting the ecologi- cal relations the temple has with its physical surrounding as well as the larger social, institutional, political, cultural, religious, and ritual systems of which it is a part. I argue that the social factors that would cause differences include at least the following: a) Ritual availability within the temple; b) Economic structure of the temple; c) Location of the temple in local temple ecology; d) Ritual habitus of local religious systems; e) Relation to the local ritual calendar. I believe these are in fact elements that affect not only Confucius temple life, but also ritual life in China in general. Although the focus of this study is Confucius temples, I hope such analysis may be able to shed light on the general patterns and structures of religious practices in contemporary China.3 3 This is the direction of my current ethnographic research project on prayer life in contempo- rary urban China, which covers multiple religious traditions. However, this chapter focuses mostly on Confucius temples. For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV Contemporary Confucius Temples Life in Mainland China 207 2 Overview of Fieldwork According to the website of the Chinese National Association of Confucius Temples (CNACT), there are currently 124 member temples across 31 provinces in Mainland China, plus 4 in Taiwan. The CNACT holds annual meetings; the 17th annual meeting took place at Deyang Confucius Temple in October 2016, with more than 200 people attending the conference. For this project on contemporary Confucius temple life, I have conducted ethnographic research in 15 Confucius temples in several different regions in Mainland China. The temples are the following: Beijing Confucius Temple, Beijing 北京孔廟; Tianjin Confucius Temple, Tianjin 天津文廟; Shanghai Confucius Temple, Shanghai 上海文廟; Qufu Confucius Temple, Shandong Province 曲阜孔廟, 山東省; Jinan Confucius Temple, Shandong Province 濟南文廟, 山東省; Deyang Confucius Temple, Sichuan Province 德陽文廟, 四川省; Bishan Confucius Temple, Sichuan Province 璧山文廟, 四川省; Zizhong Confucius Temple, Sichuan Province 資中文廟, 四川省; Suzhou Confucius Temple, Jiangsu Province 蘇州文廟, 江蘇省; Nanjing Confucius Temple, Jiangsu Province 南京夫子廟, 江蘇省; Hangzhou Confucius Temple, Zhejiang Province 杭州文廟, 浙江省; Wujiang Confucius Temple, Jiangsu Province 吳江文廟, 江蘇省; Foshan Confucius Temple, Guangdong Province 佛山祖廟, 廣東省; Kunming Confucius Temple, Yunnan Province 昆明文廟, 雲南省; Jingzhou Confucius Temple, Hubei Province 荊州文廟, 湖北省. The regional distributions are the following: Northern provinces 北方省份: Hebei and Shandong provinces 河北, 山東; South of Yangtze River provinces 江南省份: Zhejiang and Jiangsu prov- inces 浙江, 江蘇; Southern provinces 南方省份: Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces 湖北, 四川, 雲南, 廣東. The development of ritual life in Confucius temples certainly has a temporal dimension. This study focuses on ritual activities observed between 2000 and 2014, during the period of robust cultural and political revival of Confucianism For use by the Author only | © 2018 Koninklijke Brill NV 208 Sun in China.4 For the temples I have revisited since 2014, the end of my fieldwork for this project, such as the Confucius temples in Beijing, Shanghai, and Qufu, necessary updates are provided. 3 Conceptual Framework: The Linked Ecology of Confucius Temple Life In social theory, there have been many attempts to theorize social action in the larger context of society and culture. The most widely used concepts in recent years include theories of social systems;5 rational choice theory of the market;6 theories of toolkits, repertories, and habitus,7 and theories of fields, including theories of “strategic action fields.”8 Goossaert and Palmer have discussed the possibility of using the concept of ecology to study religion in modern China.9 I propose to examine Chinese religious life through the conceptual metaphor of “linked ecologies.” The concept of “linked ecologies” was first 4 Daniel Bell, China’s New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010); Anna Sun, Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013); Sebastien Billioud and Joël Thoraval, The Sage and the People: The Confucian Revival in China (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015); Kenneth Hammond and Jeffrey Richey, eds., The Sage Returns: The Confucian Revival in Contemporary China (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2015). 5 Talcott Parsons, The Social System (New York: The Free Press/Macmillan, 1964); Niklas Luhmann, Social Systems (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995). 6 Gary Becker, The Economic Approach to Human Behavior (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976). Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000); Yang Fenggang, “The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China,” The Sociological Quarterly 47 (2006): 93–122. 7 Ann Swidler, “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies,” American Sociological Review 51(2) (1986): 273–86; Robert Campany, “On the Very Idea of Religions (in the Modern West and in Early Medieval China),” History of Religions 42 (4) (2003): 287–319. Gareth Fisher, From Comrades to Bodhisattvas:
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