Session Name: Sites of Worship, Pilgrimage, and Death
Grassroot Practice Modalities of Local Beliefs in Contemporary Urban China: An Ethnography of Zhengzhou Chenghuang Temple
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
16:15 – 18:00 (GMT+7)
Paper Abstract: Chenghuang, or “City God”, is a significant local belief in China. Originating from Three-Kingdom Dynasty and thriving in Tang Dynasty, it protected urban residents from invasions, disasters and injustice in imperial China. When urban citizens no longer need protection from wars in contemporary China, Chenghuang is practised in ways adjusted to satisfy urban citizens’ desires for well-being. Based on the theoretical framework of the five modalities of doing religions in China (Chau, 2008), this paper intends to elaborate on how Chinese local beliefs are practised by grassroots in contemporary contexts through ethnographical and archival studies on Chenghuang Temple in Zhengzhou, China. My findings reveal that, first, Chenghuang Temple no longer serves as a sacred sphere merely but is also secularized into a public space for citizens to socialize and interact with each other in everyday life. This relational modality reinforces Chenghuang’s nature as a diffused belief. Second, many believers of Chenghuang are fundamentally utilitarian and transactional, indicating the practicability turn of worship modality along with the rapid development of market economy. Third, under the highly rigor supervision of the local government, the worship rituals are limited to individual communications between the believers and Chenghuang. Therefore, it is impossible for local beliefs to form an organic community to solve social problems. The observation and analysis on urban belief practice can benefit the understanding of the dynamic of contemporary Chinese religions, supplementing previous scholarship on Chinese religious practice in rural areas.
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