近代上海的天后信仰

The Worship of Tianhou in Modern Shanghai

天后是中国重要的民间信仰之一,上海是其重要信仰圈。晚清至民国时期,上海的天后祭祀活动有官方与民间两种形式,早期两者互为促进;进入民国后,官方所建庙宇尚存,而官方仪式却不再举行,但民间的信仰活动仍有持续,尤其在沿海省籍移民中仍然盛行。闽粤商人是上海天后信仰的基本信仰群体,上海的闽粤会馆几乎都合天后庙宇与会馆建筑于一体。虽然上海其它省籍会馆祭祀天后现象不在少数,但在神偶供奉排序、仪式活动方式等方面与闽粤会馆存在诸多不同。就上海闽商而言,天后不仅是海神、行业神,还是乡神。天后信仰使大多数闽商会馆在同籍商人中具有凝聚力和亲和力,其中一些会馆在进入民国后仍具超越同乡会的活动能力,与天后供奉有关。

The Tianhou worship is one of Chinese important folk beliefs. As the important belief circle of the Tianhou wor- ship ,Tianhou worship in Shanghai had the official and the folk forms which at first promoted each other mutually in the histori- cal course of late Qing Dynasty to Republic of China. During the period of the Republic of China the government no longer held the sacrifice rituals, only the official -made Temple constructions remained. And the folk worship activities still existed and af- fected especially to the coastal immigrants. Merchants of Fujian and Guangdong were the basic believers of the Tianhou wor- ship, and nearly all their guild halls and chambers in Shanghai were the complex buildings which gathered the Tianhou Temple and the guild constructions in a body. Though many merchants from other provinces in Shanghai also sacrificed Tianhou in their guild halls and chambers, their shrine orders, ritual activities and other aspects were different from the Fujian and Guangdong＇ s. To the Shanghai Fujian merchants, Tianhou was not only the god of sea and profession, but also the local god. Tianhou wor- ship made most Fujian guild halls and chambers cohesive and affinitive between the native merchants, and Tianhou enshrine and worship made some of Fujian guild halls and chambers even exceeded native associations in the capacity for action during the period of the Republic of China.