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Kinmen is small island off the coast of Fujian, majority of the residences were the immigrants of the south of Fujian, many of their religious believes, traditions, and religious ceremonies are similar to Fujianese tradition. In 1949, after the civil war, Kinmen was disconnected with mainland due to the conflict between the KMT and the Chinese Communist. As the result of that, Kinmen was distanced from Fujian influences and Taiwan took its place. The purpose of this study is to showcase the uniqueness of the folk religion in Kinmen, and investigate the process of its modernization.
Under the impact of modernization of the society, the common religious believes in Kinmen have become paradoxical. The availability of education; the scientific evidence on explaining the nature phenomena, and the capacity of rational thinking; are the cause of various disputes on the religious believe of the locals. However, the similar type of knowledge and skills were implemented in promoting the religious believes in the community. As the result of observations from both sides, modernization and traditional believes are no longer contradicting to each other. In many cases, modernization has facilitated the reestablish of the folk religion.
In this study, the Shamei settlement and the local temples were the focus of the observations. All temples in Kinmen that provide individualized blessing rituals were surveyed, including documenting the volume and the types of “lantern lighting ” and “Taisui blessing” as the evidence or the modernization of local folk beliefs.
Modernization of the folk beliefs challenge the core value of the religious believe. Utilitarianism tends to take the place of the sanctity and moral values. Strategies in reaching the equilibrium between modernization/utilitarianism and sanctity/moral values in religious believes are yet to be found.
Keywords: South of Fujian, Modernity, Ritual circle, Moral community, Magical community
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