Ritual and Gender Role in a Sanyang Village patriarchal clan, Fujian

Abstract

As a seaport city in southeast China, Quanzhou is unique in terms of its physical geography, social culture, politics and economy: on the one hand, it is inextricably linked with traditional culture of Central Plain area of China; on the other hand, it is a pioneer in foreign exchange. Therefore, Quanzhou's social culture is a combination of both central plain Han culture and maritime culture, and the traditional concepts of the Han population of Central Plain area have always run through, making Quanzhou culture maintain its own cultural characteristics. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to strengthen the management of the grass-roots society, Quanzhou government implemented a complete system of administrative space zoning system, namely the “Pu-jing ” system, which divided the grassroots society according to regions, where the people share the same geography, history, customs, life style and so on, and even the common ancestor. The uniqueness of Quanzhou lies in the close connection between folk beliefs and the “Pujing” system. Each Pujing unit has its own Pujing temple, and each Pujing temple has its own god as the main symbol of the local geo-regional community.