从广西左江上游地区民间宗教仪式看中国文化统一性

The Unity in Chinese Culture Based on the Case Study of Local Religion and Rituals of Guangxi’s Zhuang People in the Upper Reaches of Zuo River

20世纪80年代,美国人类学家华琛从中国东南沿海区域民间宗教仪式研究经验出发,提出神明“标准化”与仪式“正统行为”命题,从形式、内容两分的视角,建构了一种从民间宗教仪式在地理解中国文化统一性的理论框架。在本文中,笔者考察了广西左江上游地区民间宗教仪式专家与仪式传统,发现民间宗教仪式经由不同仪式传统层叠而成,其中包括地方“底层”的传统,区域政治体的传统以及王朝国家的传统;在仪式的层级与体系里存在着一统性力量,王朝国家的传统起着法力传递与身份认证的关键作用。“层叠统合”是中国文化统一性的一种在地表现形式,构成了另一种在地理解中国文化统一性的理论框架。

Based on research of local religion and rituals in Southeast China,in the 1980s James Watson put forward the theory of“standardizing the gods”and“orthopraxy”,demonstrating the diversity and unity of Chinese culture from the perspective of content and form’s dichotomy.In this paper,the author examines the Zhuang ritual experts and ritual traditions in the Sino-Vietnamese border area of Guangxi,and finds that local religion and rituals are formed by overlapped religious ritual traditions at different times,including the tradition of the local“native”,tradition of regional political body,and tradition of the dynasty-state;there is a unifying power in the hierarchy and system of local religion and rituals,and the tradition of the dynasty-state plays a key role in transmiting mana and authorizing ritualists.The concept of“multi-layered unity”is a kind of local manifestation of Chinese cultural unity which can form a reference and dialogue with James Watson’s theory.