An Ethnographic Study of Coastal Villages in the Jiangnan Area of China

This report aims to contribute to future folk cultural studies on China by carrying out detailed folkloric research and formulating a ethnography of coastal fishing villages in the Jiangnan area of China, which has hardly ever been made the focus of research. The research targeted two villages in Zhejiang province, and was carried out continuously during the four years of disbursement of a grant. The two study villages were Dongmen island in Shipu town, Xianshan county, Zhejiang province, and Ruoshan village in Shitang town, Wenling city. The results found for the two villages are essentially as outlined below.There are many temples on Dongmen island, and there are vigorous religious activities based around the temples. The temples also play a large role in the entertainment of the people, and we clarified first that Buddhist priests are involved in this, and second that the financial support for the activities comes from fishing. It was also clarified that in recent years, changes in livelihood patterns have been accompanied by changes in beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies. We also elucidated the fact that in that area, important social relations were formed not by clan or other patrilineal organizations, but by matrilineal families or neighborly relations.In Ruoshan village, it is said that the majority Chen(陳) family originally migrated from Fujian Province, but in this research we demonstrated concretely that people still use Fujian dialects, and that there is a significant amount of folklore that is shared with Fujian. In addition, the genealogical books kept by the Chen family were completely photographed, and analyzing its contents made it possible to clarify the process of organization of clans in the area. Also, Christianity has been spreading in Ruoshan recently, and we were also able to grasp related social and cultural changes.

This report aims to contribute to future folk cultural studies on China by carrying out detailed folkloric research and formulating a ethnography of coastal fishing villages in the Jiangnan area of China, which has hardly ever been made the focus of research. The research targeted two villages in Zhejiang province, and was carried out continuously during the four years of disbursement of a grant. The two study villages were Dongmen island in Shipu town, Xianshan county, Zhejiang province, and Ruoshan village in Shitang town, Wenling city. The results found for the two villages are essentially as outlined below.There are many temples on Dongmen island, and there are vigorous religious activities based around the temples. The temples also play a large role in the entertainment of the people, and we clarified first that Buddhist priests are involved in this, and second that the financial support for the activities comes from fishing. It was also clarified that in recent years, changes in livelihood patterns have been accompanied by changes in beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies. We also elucidated the fact that in that area, important social relations were formed not by clan or other patrilineal organizations, but by matrilineal families or neighborly relations.In Ruoshan village, it is said that the majority Chen(陳) family originally migrated from Fujian Province, but in this research we demonstrated concretely that people still use Fujian dialects, and that there is a significant amount of folklore that is shared with Fujian. In addition, the genealogical books kept by the Chen family were completely photographed, and analyzing its contents made it possible to clarify the process of organization of clans in the area. Also, Christianity has been spreading in Ruoshan recently, and we were also able to grasp related social and cultural changes.