Abstract and Acknowledgements

THREE TYPES OF CHINESE DEITIES--STONE,TREE,AND LAND

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES,LANCASTER UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

BY

Jerome YuChien

LANCASTER,U.K.

JANUARY 1997

This thesis deals with certain aspects of the Chinese popular religion of Taiwan; specifically , the cult of the Land God represented by stone(Chio Tho-ti-kong) and/or tree (Chhiu Tho-ti-kong) and the enormously complex relationships between this deity and both the Stone God (Chio-thau-kong) and the Tree God (Tua-chhiu-kong). The results of the study indicate that scared trees and stones worshipped as gods can be distinguished from the Land God which is represented by trees or stones. The distinction between the Land God and stone/tree gods can also be applied to the study of legends, traits, functions, images, deification stories, the dates for annual festivals etc.

This thesis also demonstrate that common people only partly accept the authority of the standardised written accounts fostered by elites and/or local leaders, and take it as only one of their authorities. besides it, they have their own mechanism to sustain their religious culture and have their own authorities to follow. The investigation of this mechanism and/or authorities can be easily overlooked if we limit our studies to the religious cultures dominated by the elites. Furthermore, the mechanism fostered by the state and elites seemed to serve as a carrier of messages such as civilization, order, and loyalty to the state, that is, "keepers" of social values. On the contrary, the authorities preferred by common people can serve as "challengers" to those who are privileged and who set social values.

This thesis consists of two parts: text and illustrations. The text, including notes, bibliography and character list, comprises 300 pages. All the 112 illustrations attached are colour photos I took in my field sites. The study will serve readers in the fields of Taiwanese culture, Chinese popular religion, history of religion, and anthropology.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to many people for help in carrying this thesis to completion. First, Iwant to express my sincere gratitude to those whom I interviewed druing my fieldwork. I also want to thank my supervisor Dr. Stewart McFarlane, especially for his patience and advice. In addition, I hereby acknowledge the generous financial support of the National Youth Commission of the Executive Yuan in 1992-3, and that of the Academia Sinicaa in 1993-4. Special thanks are also due to both Dr. L. S. Davis and J. A. Laidlaw for their reading of draught chapters and for providing invaluable criticism. Next, Mr. Andrew.T. Clarke also deserves thanks for correcting many mistakes in my use of English.

Many academics and staff in the Institute of Ethnology ( e.g. Prof. Zhuang Yingzhang, Prof. Xu Jiaming, Prof. Lin Meirong, and Prof. Pan Yinghai) of Academia Sinica, Taiwan and Department of Religious Studies ( e.g. Ms. Janice Parkes, Dr. Roderick Main, and Prof. John Clayton), Lancaster University, England have helped me in mumerous ways -- to all of whom I am thankful.

I am indebted to Ms. Susan Lucas for her kindness when I studied in England. Finally, for both financial help and general support, I am deeply grateful to my family.