Southern Fujian’s Tradition and Innovation in Historical Perspective: Past and Present

Abstract

American anthropologist Robert Redfield formulated a couple of terms: “Macro-tradition” and “Micro-tradition”(Redfield 1956). The term “Macro-tradition” refers to a kind of culture centered on central city, popular with intellectuals of rank and fashion, while the term “Micro-tradition” refers to the culture of frontier places represented by villagers. In Taiwan, Li Yiyuan (Li Yiyuan 2000) applied the concept of macro-tradition and micro-tradition to the study of Chinese culture. Macro-tradition mentioned by Li Yiyuan refers to a set of cosmology and world view represented by Confucian culture in Chinese society. While micro-tradition refers to the folk existence of a set of their own cosmology and world view.