167
only once in three years, the annual festival to commemorate the Houwang's birthday serves better, in terms of higher frequency, to boost the sense of community identity through mass worship of the principal local deity and large-scale general activities of celebration and entertainment. When the community finally had to suspend the chao ceremony out of financial consideration, the Houwang's Birthday Festival remained. The latter has become even more extensive in scale as demonstrated by the development in the post-War period.
Religion and the Evolution of Local Power Structure
To prepare for the annual god's feast day celebration has never been an easy job. It requires financial as well as organizational support from the local élites. In a multiple-clan community, as observed by many scholars, its principal temple is always the focal point of village coalition organization and the seat of territorial social leadership. Tung Chung's Houwang Temple as a focus of religious activities has also been a locus of sociopolitical action. It is known to have kept a legal code, dated 1893, on a wooden board hung in one of the side rooms. Put there as a permanent record for all to note was also a list of the procedures to be followed in trying crop-stealers or other trouble-makers caught in the valley and their penalties in fines to be paid.61 In addition, on the temple wall, there is an inscription detailing the history and final settlement of a long dispute in the 18th century between Tung Chung's tenants and their landlord. That local rules and dispute-settlements were publicized at the village coalition temple signifies the role of the temple god as judge governing a well-defined territory63 and the place as the centre of community organization both symbolically and practically.
62
Like most local shrines, Tung Chung's Houwang Temple has been maintained by community members and shopkeepers. Because of substantial financial needs in temple management and maintenance, support from richer residents has proved indispensable. By sponsoring festival activities as well as temple renovation projects, local élites can in turn increase their social influence, for in a society where religion has ubiquitous influence, economic power often needs religious sanction. In Tung Chung, as in many other rural areas, the richest people have usually been the most zealous patrons of local religious activities. According to a 1910 inscription on the wall of the Houwang Temple
167
only once in three years, the annual festival to commemorate the Houwang's birthday serves better, in terms of higher frequency, to boost the sense of community identity through mass worship of the principal local deity and large-scale general activities of celebration and entertainment. When the community finally had to suspend the chrao ceremony out of financial consideration, the Houwang's Birthday Festival remained. The latter has become even more extensive in scale as demonstrated by the development in the post-War period.
Religion and the Evolution of Local Power Structure
To prepare for the annual god's feast day celebration has never been an easy job. It requires financial as well as organizational support from the local élites. In a multiple-clan community, as observed by many scholars, its principal temple is always the focal point of village coalition organization and the seat of territorial social leadership. Tung Chung's Houwang Temple as a focus of religious activities has also been a locus of sociopolitical action. It is known to have kept a legal code, dated 1893, on a wooden board hung in one of the side rooms. Put there as a permanent record for all to note was also a list of the procedures to be followed in trying crop-stealers or other trouble-makers caught in the valley and their penalties in fines to be paid o1 In addition, on the temple wall, there is an inscription detailing the history and final settlement of a long dispute in the 18th century between Tung Chung's tenants and their landlord. That local rules and dispute- settlements were publicized at the village coalition temple signifies the role of the temple god as judge governing a well-defined territory63 and the place as the centre of community organization both symbolically and practically.
62
61
Like most local shrines," Tung Chung's Houwang Temple has been maintained by community members and shopkeepers. Because of substantial financial needs in temple management and maintenance, support from richer residents has proved indispensable. By sponsoring festival activities as well as temple renovation projects, local élites can in turn increase their social influence, for in a society where religion has ubiquitous influence, economic power often needs religious sanction. In Tung Chung, as in many other rural areas, the richest people have usually been the most zealous patrons of local religious activities. According to a 1910 inscription on the wall of the Houwang Temple
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