A Comparison Study on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu

Dongming Li

【Abstract】Folk culture of southern and northern Jiangsu is a dazzling pearl in our countrys folk culture， the study of which plays a very important role in the study of Jiangsus history and culture. This article uses two studying methods， namely horizontal comparison and longitudinal comparison， it also has a detailed description between the similarities and differences of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， aiming at pointing out a definite way for the development of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu.

【Key Words】Jiangsu Folk Custom； South and North Sect； Comparison Study

【中圖分类号】H31 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2017）34-0089-03

1.Introduction

Our countrys vast land area leads to the diversity of folk cultures， different nationalities and provinces represent for different folk cultures， even therere differences among folk cultures within one province. Jiangsu is a province relatively with a folk culture of great splendor in China， to some extent， folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu have great similarities， but when viewing from more detailed perspectives， there also exists some differences. There are two main comparison study methods on folk culture： the first method is to study the similarities and differences represented in the same area during different historical periods， which belongs to the horizontal studying method of folk cultures； the second method is to study the similarities and differences represented in different areas during the same historical period， which belong to the longitudinal studying method of folk cultures. Folk culture in Jiangsu includes the part that has relative high popularity in the folk culture of Han nationality， which is the similarity between folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu. But during the studying process of folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu， we can find out that differences between folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu quite clear. Differences of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu comes from nationalities historical origins， geological environment and the development trends of economy， politics and culture. Therefore， a comparison study on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu has very important historical and practical significance， which can contribute to the flourish of folk culture of Han nationality and the reform process. [1]

2.A Horizontal Comparison Study on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu

During the process of the horizontal comparison study on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， we should first determine the historical period of the prosperous folk culture， this article selects Qing dynasty as the studying period. The main reason of selecting Qing dynasty as the studying period is that therere a variety of detailed records on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu in Qing dynasty， and we can have access to many of the records from relative historical materials， which provides a strong guarantee to the authenticity of research results. Among all the records， historical materials extracted from local chronicles of different regions of Jiangsu in Qing dynasty are of relative high reference value. Local chronicles have categorized records on folk cultures according to their features and nature， the recorded materials are quite rich， which are very important reference materials for the study on the history pf folk culture. In addition， the comparison study on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu also refers to many modern scholars research results and treatises， which provides more evidences to the accuracy of research results.

Folk cultures of Jiangsus division into southern sect and northern sect mainly depends on the regions， folk culture of southern Jiangsu mainly includes areas near Taihu Lake， namely Suzhou， Changzhou and Songjiang， folk culture of southern Jiangsu mainly includes areas near Huaihe River， namely Xuzhou， Haizhou and Huaian[2]. The influential area of folk culture of southern Jiangsu mainly consists of Wu language district near Taihu Lake and Yue language district in Zhejiang province， while the influential area of folk culture of northern Jiangsu mainly consisted of the district in the north bank of Huaihe River whose customs are similar to Xuzhou and district in the south bank of Huaihe River whose customs are similar to Huainan. Theres a buffer area between the intertwined area of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， which mainly includes Jiangning and Zhenjiang where Wu customs are prevailing which are located in the south bank of Yangzte River and Yangzhou and Tongzhou where Huai customs are prevailing which are located in the north bank of Yangzte River.

（1）A Comparison Study on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu in the Aspect of Sacrificing

First， sacrificing activities in folk culture of southern Jiangsu dont appear in northern and central folk cultures of Jiangsu， a typical example is the widely existed sacrificing for Five Devil Gods（五通神） and Cishan Emperor（祠山大帝）. Second， sacrificial activities that coexist in folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu have great differences， folk culture in southern Jiangsu usually makes some innovation towards traditional sacrificial activities， which makes it absorb more new ideas and more complicated. To sacrifice Chenghuang God is a coexisted sacrificial activity in folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu， activities will be held to welcome Chenghuang God on Hungry Ghost Festival in southern Jiangsu， while therere no related similar records in northern Jiangsu. Finally， the biggest difference in sacrificial activities of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu lies in that in southern Jiangsu， people will deify those with great merits and then hold sacrificial activities towards them.

Compared with the various and complicated sacrificial activities in southern folk culture， therere not so many sacrificial activities in northern folk culture， at the same time， sacrificial activities in northern Jiangsu dont form the scale as large as that in the south， whose sacrificial activities are held mainly by the unit of family.

（2）A Comparison Study on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu in the Aspect of Climate and Phenology in a Lunar Month

The differences of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu on climate and phenology in a lunar month mainly reflect in the following aspects： first， in southern Jiangsu， many natural phenomena of daily life are given the meaning of life and therefore present personification， and many crops are regarded as human beings， and they have the right of owning their own birthdays. Second， folk culture in southern Jiangsu pays much attention to the diet during the festival， the variety of the food is what the folk culture in northern Jiangsu lacks， folk culture in the north has much simpler requirements on the diet during the festival. Third， in terms of attitudes towards unified seasons， folk culture in southern Jiangsu focuses on entertaining the public， while folk culture in the north focuses on the practicality， this kind of difference is founded on the basis of mutual penetration and influence between folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu. A typical example is the attitude towards Zouqiao on the 16th of the first lunar month of the year. In the custom of Zouqiao in southern Jiangsu， people just enjoy the full moon in knots， while in northern Jiangsu， the main purpose is to get rid of illness and to seek blessing， everyone can express their best wishes towards life through all kinds of ways.

（3）A Comparison Study on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu in the Aspect of Marriage Customs

The difference of marriage customs of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu is also reflected in that customs in the south is luxurious， while that in the north is quite simple. Therere already clear records in local chronicles about luxurious marriage customs in folk culture of southern Jiangsu， A Chronicle of Changzhao （《常昭合志》） uses the following sentence to describes marriage customs in southern Jiangsu： some people ask for money or they wont open the door for bridegrooms， some people ask for money to make hair for brides， bad customs like these are too numerous to mention. While in folk culture in northern Jiangsu， we can use the word ‘simple to modify marriage customs there， they usually take a dispensable attitude towards money， instead， they focus on all kinds of rituals of marriage.

The comparison studies above towards folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu are all carried out on the basis of records of local chronicles， therefore， they have relative high practicality and accuracy， through which we can come to a conclusion that during the long period， folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu have long penetrated and influenced each other. But during the development process， due to the influence of many factors， relative obvious differences between folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu come into being.

3.A Longitudinal Comparison Study on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu

Through the horizontal comparison study on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， we know different development paths of folk cultures during the same historical period， then combining a longitudinal comparison study on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， we can find out different influences of all factors towards the development of folk cultures relatively comprehensively. In the longitudinal comparison study on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， we can observe the status quo of folk culture in southern Jiangsu， and through comparison studies of folk cultures with the past historical periods， we can find out what kind of influences that changes of national psychology and national environment have imposed on the development path of folk culture. In addition， different historical periods represent for different development stages of social politics， economy and culture. Through the comparison study under the influence of the society， we can find out how the development paths of folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu evolved.

（1）Influences of National Psychology and Geographic Environment towards Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu

The geographic landscape of southern Jiangsu is mainly hill， and therere amount of rivers and lakes scattered everywhere， so it had long been regarded as a place thats very difficult to manage by past dynasties. During the development path of folk culture in southern Jiangsu， fusion and conflicts of folk culture basically happen inside or among all tribes， external factors play little influence on folk culture in southern Jiangsu. Whats more， because of the existence of amount of rivers and lakes， folk culture in southern Jiangsu features on water village， during the long time fusion and conflicts of folk culture in southern Jiangsu， people there inherit traditional thoughts of Wu and Yue culture， thats the reason why spirits worship is popular， why therere so many sacrificial activities and why competing activities like dragon boat are flourishing there.

The geographic landscape of northern Jiangsu is mainly plain， its contiguous to regions of Shandong province， and it has much fusion and conflicts with many regional folk cultures in the north. People in northern Jiangsu have experienced much influence from natural and man-made disasters in history， therefore， many people suffered from losing their homes and living a terrible life. During this process， people in northern Jiangsu have to struggle with other people and nature， they overcame the hardship through their perseverance. Therefore， people in northern Jiangsu dont admire spirits as much as that of people in southern Jiangsu， thats the origin of different attitudes towards sacrificial activities in southern and northern Jiangsu. Compared with southern Jiangsu， northern Jiangsu has more close communication with central plain regions， so many folk cultures of central plain regions have great influences on folk culture in northern Jiangsu， which is also one of important reasons that lead to the cultural differences between folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu.

（2）Influence of Religions on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu

Influence of religions on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu mainly focuses on the aspect of sacrificial activities， one of the important means of preaching is to guide the public to admire spirits， many peoples original understanding in Jiangsu towards spirits is just from the religious preach. During different historical periods， Confucianism and Buddhism have profound influence on sacrificial activities towards Kitchen God in folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu， whose main performance is the change of sacrifice. Influence of Confucianism leads to the adoption of five kinds of animals in sacrificial activities towards Kitchen God in southern and northern Jiangsu folk cultures， which has more or less some smell of meat. While the influence of Buddhism leads to the adoption of vegetables and fruits in sacrificial activities towards Kitchen God in southern and northern Jiangsu folk cultures， which is in accordance with beliefs of Buddhism， namely dont kill and to be compassionate.

About influence of religions on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， if we have a longitudinal view at history， we can find out it is through the whole development path of folk cultures， features of Confucianism and Buddhism still remain in many folk cultures. Influences of religions on folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu mainly focuses on sacrificial activities during festivals， as time goes by， sacrificial activities are gradually fading in peoples daily life， the scale and importance of sacrificial activities arent like before， but we can still see some sacrificial activities of certain scale in southern Jiangsu.

（3）Influence of Development of Social Politics， Economy and Culture on Folk Cultures in Southern and Northern Jiangsu

Influence of development of social politics， economy and culture on folk cultures is most fundamental and obvious， without the stability of politics， support of economy and highly development of culture， folk culture will only play a very minor role in the whole national culture， it wont have access to rapid development and prosperity. In the glorious age of Tang Dynasty， folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu showed difference in terms of attitude towards life， people in southern Jiangsu admired extravagant life， while people in northern Jiangsu were proud of leading a simple life. The main reason for this situation is that economy and politics were at a highly developed level in Tang dynasty， people of northern Jiangsu were greatly influenced by central plains， while people in southern Jiangsu were merely influenced by central plains.

4.Conclusion

Through the above comparison study towards folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu， we can find out that folk cultures in southern and northern Jiangsu have lots of similarities and differences in many aspects. Analyzing similarities in folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu， the reason lies in the development of southern and northern Jiangsu is basically in a state of synchronous development， the origin of human beings is the same， which leads to closer mutual links and mutual penetration of customs after the formation of a unified Han nationality， which is the result of mutual fusion during the development process. Analyzing differences in folk cultures of southern and northern Jiangsu， the reason lies in that therere some differences in the historical development process of southern and northern Jiangsu， together with the influence of national psychology and geological environment， which leads to obvious difference in the development direction of folk culture. In a word， we should have a clear attitude towards future development of folk cultures in Jiangsu， we should inherit and carry forward folk culture that has historical significance and practical significance.

Works cited：

[1]Sima Zhou： On the Transformation of Traditional Folk Culture-Taking Jiangsu Traditional Folk Custom As an Example[J]， Qiusuo， 2010（2）： 68-70.

[2]Luo Zhengfu： Reflections on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Perspective of Cultural Inheritance [J]， Guizhou Social Science. 2008（2）.