明清时期太湖小船渔民信仰研究

Ethnographic Study on Taihu Fishermen's Catholic Faith During the Ming and Qing Dynasties

考察了明清时期太湖小船渔民宗教信仰的历史。结果显示小船渔民信仰天主教既有世俗化的社会因素,也有长期处于社会边缘孤独心灵需要慰藉的精神因素。当天主教在华势力逐渐坐大时,为了维持皇权统治的格局,帝国的政策经历了从包容利用到紧缩限制、再到全面禁止的过程。然而,渔民教徒的信仰立场和认同倾向却出现了悖反帝国伦理—宗教的情形,进而与传教士一道形成了信仰共同体。这种张力真实反映了处于社会“底边”的渔民群体在精神层面上的潜藏意图和无声力量。太湖小船渔民信仰天主教的案例,既呈现出明清时期天主教在华传教的历史图景,也展示了帝国、天主教与渔民三者之间日常互动关系及“底边”群体的生存逻辑与生命意义。

This paper focuses on the Catholic Faith of fishermen in Taihu Lake during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Historical facts show that the Catholicism of boat fishermen in Taihu Lake had both social factors of secularization and spiritual factors of long-term loneliness on the edge of society during the Ming and Qing dynasties.When the Bishop's power gradually increased,the imperial dynasty tightened and banned Catholic missionary activities in China,and eventually expelled missionaries from China in order to maintain the original pattern of autocratic rule.However,fishermen's belief position and identity tendency were contrary to the imperial ethics religion,and formed a belief community together with missionaries.This tension truly reflects the hidden intention and silent struggle of the fishermen at the bottom of the society.Through the case of boat fishermen believing in Catholicism in Taihu Lake,this paper not only presents the historical picture of Catholicism in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,but also shows the daily interaction among the Empire,Catholicism and fishermen,as well as the survival logic and significance of the bottom groups.