Abstract

Since Catholic missionaries came again in late Ming Dynasty，the coexistence of Christianity and folk beliefs has existed in Fujian local society. Fujian folk beliefs are rich in content，and geomancy belief，ancestor worship and deity beliefs are the most prominent. The paper uses a new research angle of view，focusing on the conflicts between Christianity and folk beliefs which are demonstrated by the geomancy belief，ancestor worship and the deity beliefs.

The conflicts between Christianity and geomancy belief in Fujian have a close relationship with traditional society’s sudden crisis solution. The sudden crisis of the rural society is usually attributed to geomancy. Christianity’s geographical landscape and Christians’ behaviors are different from the traditional society，and they are easy to be seen as the destroyer of geomancy，thus being boycotted by the people.

About the conflict between Christianity and ancestor worship in Fujian，the paper is focused on the inseparable characteristics between inheritance of property and worshiping ancestor’s duty. Chinese tradition and legal thought inheritance of property and ancestor worship obligations are inseparable，and successor of the property must shoulder the obligation of the ancestor worship. Christians who refused to worship ancestor were deprived of their inheritance. The church was thinking that the inheritance were inalienably sacred，encouraging Christians who didn’t participate in ancestor worship to still ask for their property.

About the conflict between Christianity and Fujian deity beliefs，the paper studies from the view that Christianity is not only the destroyer of the original order of rural society，but also the constructing force of a new order. After Christianity was introduced into rural society，it destroyed the original local order. At the same time，it also constructed a new order with its powerful strength in the rural society. The conflict between Christianity and Fujian deity beliefs frequently occurred in the idolatrous procession，and this has a close relationship with China’s tradition that “the law does not punish numerous offenders”.

Besides looking at history，the book also pays close attention to current coexistence of Christianity and the deity beliefs at Jingfeng town and its surrounding areas in the Quanzhou prefecture. On the basis of a large number of field survey data，the book concludes that the current pattern of coexistence in rural society is both related to the balance of power between the two parties and associated with the rational choice of believers.

Finally，the book rethinks the coexistence of Christianity and the Fujian folk beliefs from seven aspects.