Taiwanese young scholar Liu Zhihao was invited to attend the Wenling forum. Photo provided by the interviewee
Taiwanese young scholar Liu Zhihao was invited to attend the Wenling Forum. Photo provided by the interviewee
China News Service Quanzhou, December 2 (Wu Guanbiao, Zhang Shaobin) "It can be seen from the frequent exchange of beliefs and customs in Fujian and Taiwan that the divine relationship between traditional Chinese culture is one of the characteristics that reflect the common emotions of the same people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait." Liu Zhihao, a young Taiwanese scholar who teaches in Fujian Quanzhou , said that based on common belief, people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can eliminate prejudices and work together to form cultural identity and new historical memories.
In the eyes of Liu Zhihao, who has long studied the beliefs of overseas Chinese, local society, regional culture and other fields, there are many palaces and temples in Quanzhou, Fujian, and many of them have a connection with Taiwan. It is an important link for cross-strait connection and is also of great help to his field survey of gods on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Field survey was a habit that Liu Zhihao retained when he was studying at the University of Truth in Taiwan, and it was also the origin of his fall in love with religious and folk culture research. After graduating from a master's degree, he came to mainland China to study for a doctorate in Department of Philosophy, Peking University and the Department of Religion. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of History, School of Literature and Communication, Quanzhou Normal University, and a postdoctoral fellow in Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Liu Zhihao (left) and the 15th generation Chinese-born Lin Zhen from the Kagoshima Lin family in Japan. The interviewee's picture provided by
is always shallow, and one must practice it if one knows this. Liu Zhihao believes that field surveys are an excellent way to sort out the historical context, explore local culture, and relax. "On the surface, we are very familiar with Chinese history and the place where we grow up, but every time we enter a town, we often feel unfamiliar with it. Many ancient monuments and customs are missing in books. They are precious and on the verge of disappearing. We urgently need to understand and dig through field surveys."
In 2018, Liu Zhihao came to Quanzhou Normal University to teach by chance and met the ancient city of Quanzhou, and his field survey also began.
"In a field survey, I found that Dongshi Town, Jinjiang, Fujian Province is extremely similar to the Lantern Festival lantern customs in Dongshi Township, Chiayi, Taiwan. I used this as a clue to examine the common beliefs of the Three Kowloons of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, revealing the cultural community connection of the original hometown beliefs and customs of the gods, and finally analyzing the importance of local traditional folk customs to the cultural identity and inheritance between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait." Liu Zhihao said.
Liu Zhihao gave a bamboo forest lecture at Quanzhou Normal University where he taught. Photo provided by the interviewee
Regarding the issue of how the two sides of the Taiwan Straits can generate cultural identity in religious and belief exchanges, Liu Zhihao suggested that it is necessary to inherit the connection between local religious culture on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, promote the refinement of the religious industry on both sides, establish a collaborative and cooperative religious culture folk think tank, deepen the religious charity relief exchange mechanism between the two sides, and promote spiritual harmony and mutual understanding between compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Liu Zhihao pointed out that the current model of gods association organized by the temples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will become an integrated energy to gather the religious culture between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. This bridge can be used to expand the homogeneous religious and cultural exchanges in Quantai.
"Since the outbreak of the epidemic, physical exchanges between temples and entities have stagnated across the Taiwan Strait, but the exchanges of the Cross-Strait Gods Association have not been cut off, but instead use online video to communicate." Liu Zhihao reminded that face-to-face communication is still very important for emotional communication between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is not easy to carry out cross-strait exchange activities in the post-epidemic period. Even if the online model is adopted, there are still previous cases of cancellation. I hope that physical exchanges can be resumed after the epidemic.
During the lecture, Liu Zhihao focused on the origin of folk religion and folk beliefs, used interesting stories in field surveys to mobilize students' enthusiasm for learning, encouraged students to go out of textbooks, conduct field surveys, and help them better understand folk culture and recognize the essence of religion or folk culture.
"Next, I will spend a few years to investigate and sort out the diverse forms of religious and cultural in Quanzhou." Liu Zhihao said that he will further think about how to deepen the development of cross-strait civil exchanges and re-analyze the path of innovation of cross-strait civil exchanges. (End)
Source: China News Network
