Temple Destruction in Early 20th Century China: A Case Study of the Ba County, 1900-1936

Abstract

Around the turn of the 20th century, under the influence of the West, China experienced a major shift in the paradigm of thinking and managing its religious scene: from Confucian fundamentalist or anticlerical to anti-superstition. The latter paradigm quickly gave rise to wholesale temple destruction.Inspired by Durkheim's theory of ritual, this topic--Temple Destruction--is broadly defined in this thesis. Any actions that impede temples from carrying out their rituals, whether it involves removing popular gods from local temples, refashioning temples into elementary schools and government offices, or banning processions to venerate gods, are categorized here as "temple destruction". Mainly relying on the Ba County Gazetteer published in the Republican era, this thesis explores the situation of temple destruction in this county from the Late Qing to 1936. It finds out that it was temples of local cults that faced the most severe blow. These destroyed temples can be further divided into two categories: one type, exemplified by the City God Temple, was open to the entire territorial community, while the other type, like the Yuwang Temple, functioned as immigrant provincial guildhalls会馆, which were open only to members from their respective provinces. These two types of temples are also different in the main causes of their destruction. Compared to the former, the destruction process of provincial guildhalls was more gradual, with longer time span. This thesis consists of two main chapters, each of which explores the history before and after the destruction of one type of temple. It argues that the history behind the temple shows us how the local community was shaken during the process of modernization.