The Village Temple
"Another centre of Chinese village life is the village temple. The temple is, as a rule, dedicated to a deified mortal such as Kwan-ti, once a distinguished general, now a…
From: 1915 C.E. To: 1915 C.E.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“The Village Temple,” from Village and Town Life in China by Y.K. Liang and Li Kung Tao, 1915.
Another centre of Chinese village life is the village temple. The temple is, as a rule, dedicated to a deified mortal such as Kwan-ti, once a distinguished general, now a god of valour and loyalty; Peh-ti, a culture god and patron of tradesmen; Wen-Chang, god of literature and patron of schoolboys; Lung-wang, a rain god; and so on as the predilections of the village folks may decide. But the temple is more a centre of social life than that of religious life. To it the superstitious element of the village and the neighbouring villages come to pray for favours or to perform thanksgivings, as the case may be. It is thereby a source of considerable income.
There is, however, no definite religious belief attached to the temple. It is difficult to define with any degree of accuracy what religious ideas are in the mind of an average Chinese villager. With his eminent good sense and practicality he has fused into one the old theistic doctrine and a modified form of Buddhism, "addressing his prayers on rare occasions to the Lao-tien-ye, the venerable Lord of Heaven, He who sees and judges, punishes and rewards."
But at the same time he is subject to a thousand and one superstitions. Confucianism, needless to say, is not a religion. It is a system of positive ethical and political rules of conduct with a shadowy personal God in the background; and, as is interpreted by the commentators such as Chu-hsi, it is pure materialism not unlike Haeckel's system of "Kraft und Stoff." Taoism pure and simple, on the other hand, has never found favour with the people. What is popularly known as Taoism is debased and mutilated and full of superstitious practices, borrowing at the same time a good deal from Buddhism.
To come back to the village temple, it has more resemblance to the English town hall than to the parish church. It is the common centre of social life for all the villagers irrespective of their clans. The village temple is also the centre from which radiates the network of relations with other villages and the central government. It would be beyond the scope of this essay to do more than merely indicate in the barest outline a few of these external relations. The intervillage treaties and alliances are entered into by the various village temples.
So also complaints are made to and redresses obtained through the village temple if a stranger should suffer any grievance from the villagers. Again, the village elders and literati, who are at the same time officers of the temple, are recognized by officials of the central government. These and the Chi-yuen are the connecting links, in some cases extremely weak indeed, between the village and the central government.
In a word, externally the village temple represents the government of the village. It enters into complicated relations both hostile and friendly for the village. It is responsible for the conduct of the villagers to outsiders. It is also nominally responsible to the central government for the good government of the village.
But the chief importance of the village temple lies in the part it plays in the internal life of the village. Although the fiction of a corporation with its perpetual succession and common seal is unknown to the Chinese villager, yet the Chinese village temple is not unlike an English municipal corporation. It enjoys perpetual existence. It acts through officers, who are annually elected. It owns property. It can buy and sell and enter into contracts. I have compared it above to the English town hall. In many respects, however, it resembles the English county council. It has about the same sort of administrative functions, such as education (if not already taken up by the ancestral halls), police, repairs of roads, etc.
In addition to the administrative functions it also exercises through different officers judicial functions in petty criminal cases, and not infrequently it disposes of serious cases such as robbery without referring to the central authorities as is required by the Imperial laws. In a word, it does practically for the village what the county council and quarter sessions together do for the English county.
The officers of the village temple are elected by a somewhat different method to that adopted in the case of the ancestral hall. For administrative purposes the village is divided into from six to about twelve divisions of more or less equal size, according to the extent of the area and population of the village. On an average each division has from 200 to 500 inhabitants. Two or three officers are allotted to each division. Every father of a family is entitled to be officer of the temple and is given an opportunity to offer his services for the public good. Every office goes round from house to house by rotation.
Thus, suppose the division of a village consists of one long street and two officers are allotted to the division, then the offices will go round in this manner: The two fathers of families of the first two houses will be first offered the two offices. They will be at liberty to accept or not. In any case, they will not have the opportunity again till all the other houses have had a chance of the office. If they do not accept, the two offices will go to the other houses following in numerical order. If there happens to be a shop, then it is the owner or manager of the shop who is entitled to the office. Should the owner or manager accept the office the shop must cease all business dealings with the temple during the time the owner or manager is in office. The office is for a year, with only a nominal remuneration attached.
Besides these annually elected officers there is a small group of others who may be looked upon as counsellors. Their offices are more or less permanent, according to the popular feeling of the villagers. They are the influential elders and the literati of the village. It is difficult to define their exact position, for it chiefly depends upon the tacit understanding and common sense of the village community, as evidenced by usage and oral tradition. Their offices are due to their personal influence and also to the popular feeling of the villagers towards them. They are the leaders and mouth-piece of public opinion in the village. The actions of the administrative officers—that is, of those who are annually elected—are greatly influenced by their opinion and counsel.
It is these influential elders and literati that are recognized by the officials of the central government. It is they who are the sole village authorities in the sight of the central government. Thus the judicial functions of the temple fall into their hands. It also rests with them to decide whether strangers may come and settle within the village. They act, however, in the name of the temple, and not as possessing authority from the central government. For they are officers of the temple, and receive a nominal remuneration from it.
The annually elected officers, on the other hand, are not recognized by the government, and the functions they perform are purely administrative and unknown to the law. On the whole these two classes of officers of the village temple act in perfect harmony.
Before describing the functions of the village temple the sources of its income may be briefly indicated here. Like the ancestral hall, the temple owns agricultural lands, which are let out to the villagers irrespective of their clan. The market of the village is also a source of income, for it is generally held in front of the temple. Here the villagers may buy and sell freely every day. But strangers who wish to sell in the market must pay rent to the temple for their stalls.
Another source of income to the temple is the temple itself. The temple is a great attraction to the superstitious element of the whole district, and hundreds flock to it every day. It is thereby a source of considerable income. For the realizing of this income the temple is annually farmed to the highest bidder. Thus the village temple is a fairly prosperous body, and frequently it is much richer than the ancestral halls individually.
The various functions of the temple may now be described briefly.
First, the temple provides for the annual festival of its patron. Like the temple itself, this annual festival has practically lost all its religious significance. Nominally it is celebrated in honour of the patron of the village, but in reality it is a social gathering, a sort of annual carnival. Theatres are staged before the temple, its surroundings all gorgeously decorated and illuminated, and the village folk, young and old, flock to the temple grounds to enjoy their annual merry-making. This annual festival is a great source of enjoyment to the villagers, and is therefore one of the most important items of expenditure which the annually elected officers of the temple must provide. Towards this expenditure a door-to-door collection is usually made, but subscription to it is voluntary.
Another important function of the temple is to provide for the proper police of the village. Every house must supply a man to the temple for watch duty for a certain number of days and nights in the year, each house being supposed to bear an equal share of the burden. But a small sum may be contributed in lieu of sending a man. Such contributions go towards paying those who do extra watch duties to make up the deficit. But in case of grave necessity, such as in fear of big gangs of robbers or a feud with neighbouring villages, all male members of the village from the age of 16 upwards may be called upon to do watch duty. It is for volunteers to attack, but all must defend their village and their homes. The temple in every case supplies the necessary equipments. In ordinary times the watch duty consists of patrolling the outskirts of the village and sounding the different hours of the night through the streets and lanes of the village. The latter is performed by beating a hollow bamboo with a certain number of strokes, according to the hour, and by calling out at intervals to the sleeping villagers to be mindful of fire and thieves.
Other functions of the village temple are to light certain public places and dangerous corners of the village, to repair the roads, canals, and landing-places, to furnish adequate defence works, etc. The village temple also supplies free schooling to the village children when it is either not carried out or inadequately supplied by the different ancestral halls. It may also supply free doctoring, medicine, and burial and suchlike relief works. These, then, briefly are the functions of the village temple, one of the most interesting of Chinese institutions. From the point of view of local government the village temple is an institution full of potentialities in the future if completely divested of its semi-religious and superstitious element.
It will be beyond the scope of this essay to indicate here the problems arising out of the relations between the central government and the village. So much, however, may be said in conclusion: the Chinese village folks are most capable of self-organization and self-government. On the other hand, they are extremely jealous of external interference. Reform, should any be needed, must come from within, and not from without.
Let the central government indicate to them a policy, give them a standard, and leave them to settle matters amongst themselves, and it will see its policy carried out with the minutest exactness and at practically no cost. Whereas if it should interfere with the government of the village in any shape or form through officials it will find itself in a sea of troubles. I do not say the central government cannot succeed in having its policy carried out. But the same can be done at infinitely less cost and trouble if the central government would do it with the co-operation of the village folks.
A word may be said here as to the economic aspect of Chinese village life. As a rule all the agricultural land around the village has been appropriated. The landowners may be divided into three classes—the village temple, the ancestral halls, and private individuals. The proportion belonging to each element varies. In general the larger proportion is owned by private individuals, while the land belonging to the temple and ancestral halls is invariably let to those who possess none of their own.
The houses of the village are all without exception privately owned. There is no demand whatever made on property by the village authorities beyond an occasional voluntary contribution. There is, however, a nominal tax imposed on land by the central government. But it is extremely slight, being only .08 ounce of silver on a “meu." A "meu" may be roughly estimated at about 1,000 English square yards.
On the whole property is pretty evenly distributed, and the only economic problem that arises is that of over-population. This has hitherto been very inadequately and unsatisfactorily met by emigration. The doctrine of open-door has been forced upon China by the white races in the name of civilization. But the latter have very reluctantly practised what they preached with such vigour and passion—nay, even with fire and sword—in the nineteenth century.
But with the introduction of machinery and the opening up of the natural resources of the country doubtless a new channel will be found for the surplus population. And the standard of life will also be considerably raised. With this new solution of the problem, however, fresh problems will inevitably arise. So far both the clan system and the village organization have withstood the growth of towns. But whether they will suffer the same fate to which similar institutions in the West have succumbed time alone will tell.
Liang, Y. K., and Li Kung Tao. Village and Town Life in China. MacMillan Co., 1915.
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