Ancestral Belief and Deification of Fishermen in the Taihu Lake Region of China: The Case of Xianfeng Belief

Abstract

This article examines the ancestral belief system of fishermen in the Taihu Lake region through the worship of Xianfeng 先锋 (lit. “forerunner”). Existing studies of Taihu fishermen’s beliefs have primarily provided general descriptions of fishing communities, while the formation, transmission, social functions, and contemporary transformation of Xianfeng belief remain insufficiently examined. Drawing on textual analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, this article addresses this gap by exploring how Xianfeng belief has been sustained through the tradition of ritual specialists (Tangmen Taibao 堂门太保) and transformed from family-based ancestor worship into a community-wide protective practice through rituals such as incense pilgrimages and incense association rites. In doing so, it reconstructs the developmental trajectory of Xianfeng belief and provides a representative case for understanding the religious transformation of the rapidly disappearing fishing communities in the Taihu Lake region, while contributing to a broader discussion of religious change in China’s waterborne societies.

1. Introduction

Since the 1980s and 1990s, a group of scholars from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai led by Jiang Bin 姜彬 has conducted a series of influential and methodologically rigorous investigations into the beliefs and social life of fishermen in the Lake Tai (Taihu 太湖) Basin, which is located in the heart of China’s Yangtze River Delta. Chen Juncai 陈俊才, a scholar from this collective, was among the first to introduce the belief system and incense-association organizations (xianghui 香会)1 of Taihu fishermen. Chen provides detailed descriptions of ritual activities at the Yu King Temple on Pingtai Mountain, including sacrificial procedures, temple property, temple fairs, and ritual sequences dedicated to Yu the Great (Yu Wang 禹王)2. His work documenting these activities has offered invaluable first-hand materials for the study of Yu worship among Taihu fishermen (Chen 1992, pp. 80–102). Folk beliefs in the Jiangnan region, especially among waterborne societies and aquatic populations, continued to attract scholarly attention from the beginning of the twenty-first century. This attention has included overseas researchers who have entered the field. Some of their academic work has included information related to fishermen’s ancestral beliefs; however, there is an absence of in-depth research for various reasons. Notably, Japanese scholars such as Satō Yoshifumi 佐藤仁史 have compiled collections of oral field materials on the everyday religious life of Taihu fishermen (Satō et al. 2008). Through field interviews conducted among farmers and fishermen in the Jiangsu–Zhejiang–Shanghai region, these studies document Tangmen Taibao (堂门太保, ritual specialists) and include relatively detailed interviews concerning deities and sacred spaces in these communities. Hu Yanhong’s 胡艳红 (Hu 2017) Water Residents of Jiangnan (《江南の水上居民》), taking fishing-port villages around Lake Tai as its primary case, examines the religious life of trap-net fishermen (罛船渔民 guchuan yumin) on the western shores of Lake Tai from the Republican period onward, and explores the socialist transformation of fishing communities following the founding of the People’s Republic of China. However, this work devotes relatively limited attention to fishermen’s ancestral beliefs.

Existing scholarship on ancestral commemoration and local ritual institutions has studied the social and political mechanisms in the Jiangnan area that transformed individuals into locally venerated figures. Wu Tao’s 吴滔 study of the Shi lineage along the Grand Canal, for example, demonstrates the considerable effort required for a family to secure the enshrinement of their ancestor Shi Zhongbin 史仲彬 into the local pantheon (rusi xiangxian入祀乡贤) (Wu 2021). Research on the Ming and Qing xiangxian system further shows that the process of enshrinement was deeply embedded within official ritual administration. As Zhao Kesheng 赵克生 notes, during the Ming Dynasty, “education officials (tixueguan 提学官) possessed the final authority in approving local worthies for enshrinement” (Zhao 2005, p. 120). At the same time, scholars have also observed that the repeated irregular expansion of enshrinement practices reflected broader social demands and paralleled the popularization of “patriarchal ethics” (zongfa lunli 宗法伦理) in the late imperial society (Zhao 2018; Hou and Niu 2018). These studies primarily focus on officially recognized lineage society, literati culture, and the institutional framework of local moral authority. Comparatively little attention has been paid to marginal and mobile water communities whose religious practices often operated outside formal lineage structures and official ritual systems.

In a co-authored volume by Satō Yoshifumi 佐藤仁史, Wu Tao 吴滔, and others, Xia Yihong’s 夏一红 contribution focuses on fishermen’s religious life, analyzing affinal relations among resettled fishermen and the social networks of ritual specialists (Xia 2018, pp. 109–44). By researching daily life and religious practices, the study explores issues of identity formation and living conditions among resettled fishermen3. Within the existing literature, Zhu Mingchuan’s 朱明川 article “Ship and Shore: Two Traditions in Folk Beliefs in the East Taihu Area” (Zhu 2019) offers an early indication that Xianfeng (先锋) forms part of Taihu fishermen’s religious repertoire. By attending to the formal features and iconographic details of Xianfeng images (xianfeng zaoxiang 先锋造像), Zhu brings this belief into view. However, the process of Xianfeng’s deification has yet to receive systematic attention. Collectively, this body of scholarship has laid an important foundation for subsequent studies of Xianfeng belief while also highlighting the considerable potential for further research on the religious traditions of the Taihu fishing communities.

The development of such folk religion was partly related to the transformation of gentry attitudes toward belief and ritual practices in the Jiangnan region since the Ming Dynasty. Rather than rigidly adhering to orthodox state ritual systems, local elites increasingly adopted a more inclusive approach toward Buddhism, Daoism, and vernacular religions, regarding the maintenance of local religious order and moral-educational order as a central task of local governance (Q. Wang 2018).

In China, “ancestor worship has always been a strong and enduring popular faith” (Lakos 2010, p. 49). The core religious function of ancestors in China has remained remarkably consistent, from the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, where ancestors functioned as mediators between humans and deities, to later forms of popular ancestor worship. According to Zhang Xi 张曦, “ancestors were not only perceptible but also emotionally responsive, embedded within a complex web of social and moral relationships”, and in the Shang period, only through these ancestral intermediaries could the Shang king petition on his behalf and indirectly convey his wishes to the deity (Zhang 2023, p. 12).

The Lake Tai Basin, characterized by its vast waters and mist-laden landscape, has long been home to fishing communities whose livelihoods depend on continual movement across aquatic environments. In their sustained negotiation with nature, these fishermen have developed a distinctive belief in Xianfeng (先锋, lit. forerunner), a form of ancestor-oriented worship that is a vivid example of folk religion in the Jiangnan region. This is particularly true with regard to ancestral belief traditions. The ancestral belief of Xianfeng among Taihu fishermen can be understood as a contemporary continuation of this tradition. Meanwhile, the worship of Chenghuang (城隍, guardian deity or city god), a central form of “officially sanctioned ritual” during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, established a model of local governance based on the joint regulation of the human and spiritual realms (yinyang gongzhi 阴阳共治) (J. Wang 2010, p. 100). Ming regulations required local officials to worship Chenghuang upon assuming office, receiving promotion, and on ritual calendar days. They used divine authority to discipline administrative conduct and maintain moral order within local society. This institutional recognition of deity worship gradually extended into the grassroots society of the Taihu Lake region and contributed to the development of vernacular ancestor worship. The ancestral Xianfeng rituals of fishermen likewise drew upon the core elements of Chenghuang worship, including sacred hierarchy (shenzhu zhixu 神主秩序), ritual procedure (jisi yigui 祭祀仪轨), and communal cohesion (shequn ningju 社群凝聚). Thus, within the interstices of the official religious system, they developed their own standardized form of ancestral belief. During the Ming Dynasty, according to Chang (2024, p. 32), family lineages constructed systems of ancestor worship centered on ancestral sacrifice and genealogy compilation, where “shrine rituals were regarded as the highest form of ancestral veneration” and served to sustain family identity and communal cohesion. Given their mobility and limited economic resources, fishing groups in the Taihu Lake region were generally unable to establish formal ancestral halls. Instead, they practiced rituals in the form of tomb worship or domestic sacrifice. Nevertheless, these practices likewise continued the core concept of “honoring ancestors and strengthening communal cohesion” (jingzong 敬宗 shouzu 收族), representing a distinctive adaptation of Ming ancestral traditions among lower-level water communities.

Ancestor worship had a profound influence on the formation of Chinese socio-political structures, shaping patterns of social organization, moral norms, and systems of authority. In a Confucian sense, “filial piety emphasizes that ancestor worship and its connections and corollaries were integral in the inception of Chinese culture and in its continuing motivation” (Lakos 2010, p. 57). As Feng (2025, p. 13) points out quoting The Analects (Lunyu 论语), “When people are careful in attending to funerals and diligent in remembering their ancestors, the virtue of the people will return to its fullness” (慎终追远，民德归厚矣 shen zhong zhui yuan, min de gui hou yi), the remembrance of and emotional attachment to the deceased, were regarded in early Confucianism as a fundamental emotional basis of sacrificial practice. Similarly, the sacrificial practices of Taihu fishermen are not merely ritual activities, but also emotional expressions of remembrance for the deceased. As a core medium of the spiritual world of water-town communities, this belief of Xianfeng is deeply rooted in the Confucian funerary ethic. It upholds the fundamental ritual obligation of commemorating the deceased and venerating ancestors through solemn ceremonial practices that convey reverence and gratitude, thereby continuing the Confucian moral principle of “serving the dead as if they were living” (事死如事生 shi si ru shi sheng).

At the same time, Xianfeng belief transcends the familial and private boundaries typical of conventional funerary rites, giving rise to a culturally distinctive extension shaped by the aquatic environment. This study adopts Chau’s notion of “doing religion” (Chau 2006) to foreground the practical and service-oriented dimensions of fishermen’s beliefs. Rather than treating religion primarily as a system of beliefs, Chau (2006, p. 75) proposes that Chinese religion is better understood through different “modalities of doing religion,” namely recurrent forms of religious practice through which people engage with the sacred. Among these modalities, the relational mode emphasizes the ongoing relationship between humans and deities or ancestors through offerings, temple festivals, and pilgrimage, while the liturgical mode highlights ritual specialists and formal ritual performances. These two modalities are particularly relevant to Xianfeng belief, whose continuity depends both on repeated communal rituals and on the ritual authority of the Tangmen Taibao. In this sense, the evolution of Xianfeng belief reflects a broader pattern observable in Chinese local religion whereby folk beliefs maintain continuity while responding to new social environments. Huang (2025) characterizes this process as one of “orthodoxy preservation” combined with “localized innovation”, a formula that is likewise applicable to the contemporary transformation of Xianfeng worship among Taihu fishermen.

The Xianfeng belief also shares important features with the broader Chinese tradition of ancestor worship. Early societies believed that ancestral souls continued to protect their descendants, making ritual offerings central to the preservation of lineage and communal identity (Fu 2024). However, unlike most agrarian societies, where ancestor worship is primarily centered on lineage-based ancestral halls, Taihu fishermen enshrine their ancestors within communal shrines unique to water-town culture, thus relocating ancestor belief from the private sphere of the family to the public space of the community. These shrines function not only as collective sites for ancestral veneration but also as spiritual hubs that consolidate communal cohesion and regulate behavioral norms.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, ritual regulations established a strict hierarchy of ancestral worship. As stated in the “Royal Regulations” (Wangzhi 王制) chapter in the Book of Rites (Liji 礼记), “the common people presented their offerings in their domestic chambers” (shuren ji yu qin 庶人祭于寝) (Ruan 2021, p. 241), rather than in formal ancestral temples. However, the forefathers of the Taihu fishermen, who lived for generations on boats and remained constantly mobile on the water, lacked stable domestic spaces suitable for such household rituals. In response to these limitations, Taihu fishermen transformed boats and lakeside spaces into ritual sites, developing forms of boat- and shore-based ancestral sacrifice. Fishermen in the Lake Tai Basin traditionally formed settlement patterns structured around kinship ties, fishing techniques, or shared localities. Such modes of aggregation were shaped primarily by concerns over production safety and cooperative labor, while also serving to mitigate the risks inherent in life on the water. These collective living arrangements not only facilitated coordinated fishing practices but also created the social conditions under which shared beliefs and ritual cultures could take shape. Within the ritual framework that has been established since the Ming Dynasty, those who died through war, disaster or accident without descendants to maintain sacrificial rites were categorized as “unworshipped spirits” (Xu 2021, p. 191), awaiting ritual accommodation and incorporation into a stable network of ancestral and communal relations. The living conditions of Taihu fishermen closely corresponded to the social circumstances under which such spirits were believed to emerge: dangerous aquatic labor frequently resulted in accidental deaths, which mobility and weak lineage institutions often made stable ancestral worship difficult to sustain. As a result, fishermen actively developed local systems of ancestor worship to pacify the souls of the deceased kin and prevent them from becoming wandering spirits. Similar to the sea-god beliefs of Fuzhou (Fan 2019), the ancestral belief system of fishermen in the Taihu Lake Basin functioned as a spiritual resource through which local communities confronted the uncertainties and dangers of life on water under conditions of limited navigation technology and scientific knowledge. As fishing populations expanded and ritual practices became increasingly routinized, specialized ritual practitioners gradually emerged. These individuals typically served fixed stretches of water and maintained long-term service relationships with specific fishing households.

Cross-regional mobility among fishermen—most notably the migration of fishing groups from northern Jiangsu, Shandong, and Hunan in the modern period—introduced multiple ritual traditions into the Lake Tai Basin (Qiu 2021). According to Huang (2025, p. 13), it was a common practice for migrants to “carry with them the deities’ statues or incense ash”. As a result, a diverse array of ritual specialists once coexisted within fishermen’s communities. These included Tangmen Xiangzhu (堂门香主) from north Jiangsu, Duangong (端公) from Shandong, Taibao (太保) from Jiangnan (the south Yangtze region), Tongzi (童子), and Shiniang (师娘). Over time, certain roles began to converge. The Tangmen tradition, which enjoyed varying degrees of local governmental recognition, gradually merged with the Jiangnan-based Taibao, largely because their ritual forms and functional repertoires overlapped in practice. This process gave rise to what fishermen now refer to as Tangmen Taibao (堂门太保)—a hybrid ritual role that came to occupy a central position in fishermen’s ceremonial life. Other ritual figures followed different trajectories. Duangong, for instance, remained limited in number and continued to serve primarily fishermen of Shandong origin, while Tongzi and Shiniang were more widely distributed across fishing groups. In many cases, these latter roles overlapped with that of the Tangmen Taibao, sometimes even operating within spousal partnerships. The designation of ritual practitioners varies across regions and fishing groups. For example, fishermen operating silk-net boats in Suzhou’s inner waterways commonly refer to ritual specialists as Waihu Xiansheng (外湖先生), whereas large-boat fishing groups on Lake Tai continue to use terms such as Tongzi or Taibao. Functional divisions likewise differ by context. Among inland-water fishermen, the Tangmen Taibao often assumes responsibilities associated with both Tongzi and Taibao, whereas in large-boat groups these roles tend to remain distinct, with separate individuals performing each function.

Against this backdrop, and given both the distinctiveness of Taihu fishermen’s belief culture and the layered complexity produced by the convergence of multiple ritual traditions, the present study draws on ethnographic field materials to provide a more systematic account of the Xianfeng belief. It aims not only to map practices and categories, but also to clarify the ritual pathways and social mechanisms through which Xianfeng are constituted and sustained, thereby serving as a substantive supplement to the current body of research. This study begins with a systematic review of existing scholarship on folk belief and fishermen’s culture in the Lake Tai Basin. Previous research provides essential reference points for understanding ritual specialists, belief structures, and the place of Xianfeng within fishermen’s religious life, while also revealing areas that remain insufficiently explored. In parallel, the study draws on local gazetteers and folklore records that document fishermen’s production practices and ritual traditions. These historical materials serve not as a comprehensive narrative source, but rather as contextual anchors that allow contemporary ethnographic observations to be situated within a longer temporal framework. Through this combined use of secondary literature and local records, the research seeks to maintain both academic continuity and historical depth.

Fieldwork was conducted across the Lake Tai region, with particular focus on fishing communities in urban Suzhou and its surrounding lakefront areas. The research team participated in a range of ritual events, including sacrificial ceremonies and incense pilgrimage-procession cycles (xiangxun 香汛), observing how Tangmen Taibao carried out ritual procedures, regulated modes of deity veneration, and deployed Xianfeng images within specific ceremonial contexts. Attention was paid to ritual language, bodily actions, and material objects as they appeared in practice, allowing the study to document ritual life as it unfolded. Particular attention was given to differences in belief practices among various fishing groups, including silk-net fishermen (siwang chuan yuhu 丝网船渔户) and large-boat fishing collectives (dachuan bang 大船帮), with the aim of identifying both regional characteristics of ritual traditions and traces of their mutual convergence. Interviews were conducted with elderly fishermen in the Lake Tai Basin, including Shen Shougen (沈寿根, deceased), senior Tangmen Taibao such as Xu Ernan (徐二男, deceased), and ritual assistants known as xianghuo (香伙). The interviews centered on key issues: the transmission history of the Tangmen Taibao role, the acquisition of ritual techniques, the origins and practical details of Xianfeng belief, and fishermen’s understandings of and devotional practices toward Xianfeng. Through these oral accounts, the study sought to recover crucial information not preserved in written sources and to supplement gaps in documentary records.

Taking Xianfeng belief among Taihu fishermen as the central case, the study integrates ritual records obtained through field investigation, interview materials, and existing scholarly research. It focuses on the pathways through which Xianfeng are constituted as divine figures, the mechanisms of their sacralization, and their functions within fishermen’s belief systems. On this basis, the research undertakes a systematic examination of the distinctive logic of “human–divine transformation” (ren–shen zhuanhua 人神转化) in Taihu fishermen’s religious life, offering a representative case for understanding patterns of cross-boundary integration within folk belief traditions of the basin.

2. The Emergence of Xianfeng 先锋: Occupational Risk and the Deification of Ancestors

The term Xianfeng (先锋) commonly appears in historical and literary contexts, where it often refers to a general or a soldier who fights on the frontier in battle. Among Taihu fishermen, however, the term carries a different yet related connotation. Here, Xianfeng refers to ancestral figures who serve in proximity to higher-ranking deities, acting on their behalf while at the same time protecting a particular fishing group. Their veneration therefore embodied both religious devotion and ancestral remembrance. This reciprocal relationship between the living and the dead echoes a long-standing pattern in Chinese ancestor worship. As recorded in Chu Hsi’s “Family Rituals” (Zhuzi Jiali 朱子家礼), “the ancestors depended on their descendants for food; the living could benefit from the blessings from their ancestors” (Chu and Ebrey 1991, p. 16). Through the mediation of Xianfeng, the deities worshipped by fishermen become bonded to the local community, for “sacrifice by the locals is reciprocated by the deities through protection” (Faure and Ho 2013, p. 5). The primary objects of devotion among Taihu fishermen consist largely of local deities from around the Lake Tai region. Fishermen often describe the divine realm through the notion of “yin-yang unity” (yinyang yiti 阴阳一体)4, a conceptual framework through which fishermen interpret the world of deities and understand the thoughts and attitudes of those deities. This reciprocal relationship between ancestors and the living, however, took on a distinctive form among the Taihu fishermen. Rather than remaining within the private sphere of lineage worship, it gradually developed into the localized religious practice of Xianfeng under the particular environmental and social conditions of waterborne life. The emergence of Xianfeng belief among Taihu fishermen was shaped by three interrelated factors. First, the itinerant nature of fishermen’s lives meant that they moved continuously across the Taihu Lake region in pursuit of fishing opportunities. Temples maintained by lakeside communities, particularly those located along open stretches of water where boats could easily moor, gradually became the focal points of their religious activities. As a result, the spirits of their ancestors were incorporated into those local sites of folk worship rather than being venerated within fixed lineage shrines. Second, the extremely limited living space aboard fishing boats made it impractical to establish ancestral halls for household worship. This spatial constraint further encouraged the relocation of ancestral rituals from the domestic sphere to shared ritual sites on shore. Third, the risks inherent in life on water and the uncertainty of fishing activities fostered a particularly strong religious consciousness among Taihu fishermen. It reflects this broader logic of reciprocity: fishermen provided ritual offerings, commemoration, and continued veneration, while Xianfeng were expected to safeguard households, ensure successful fishing expeditions, and protect the community from misfortune.

As Ma (2024, p. 16) observes, “In ancient China, as individuals often lacked control over the fortunes and misfortunes of their lives, they resorted to seeking assistance from external forces, such as ghosts and deities, hoping that by appeasing these supernatural entities they could attain personal benefits.” Although separated by time and social context, a similar pattern could also be observed among Taihu fishermen. Life on the water has long been marked by hardship and uncertainty. For fishermen, neither the abundance of their catch nor the arrival of natural disasters could be predicted with confidence. Illness, accident, and sudden misfortune were woven into everyday existence. Faced with such instability, fishermen placed their hopes in the deities believed to inhabit the waters and shores of Lake Tai. Within traditional Chinese religious culture, especially from a Daoist perspective, ordinary people could not directly connect with Heaven, but instead relied upon figures, such as a class of “sages”, endowed with spiritual authority to mediate between the human and divine realms (Yu 2026, p. 14). It was precisely this combination of vulnerability and expectation that led modern-era fishermen to introduce their own ancestors into the sacred geography of the region. Over time, the fishermen’s pantheon formed what they call the “Nanbei Sichao” (南北四朝), literally the “Four Courts of North and South”5, a structured sacred space within which their protective deities reside. On the birthdays or consecration days of these deities, fishermen organize large-scale incense pilgrimages, forming what are known as xiangxun (香汛 incense pilgrimage-procession cycles). In the common practice of Chinese ancestor worship, “besides the usual set days of ritualized worship, there were also other occasions when formal announcements were made to the ancestors” (Lakos 2010, p. 29). During these occasions, vows are made and fulfilled; ritual opera performances are staged in repayment to the deities; supplies are purchased; boat laborers are recruited; and marriage arrangements are negotiated. As one elderly fisherman recalled:

In traditional society, boat people worked across this water system, drifting constantly without fixed residence. Relatives and friends rarely had the chance to meet. For young people, finding a spouse was especially difficult. That is why we valued the net-boat gatherings (网船会 wangchuan hui) so much. Of course, faith came first—but there was also the need to meet one another. Only at these gatherings could people from the same boat group see each other again. There was always much to say, and much to do. (Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Broadcasting and Jiaxing Federation of Literary and Art Circles 2016, p. 32)

Thus, xiangxun was not merely a devotional act. It provided a vital platform for material exchange and social cohesion. Therefore, the annual cycle of incense pilgrimage associated with “Nanbei Sichao” constituted a crucial part of the life of fishermen. Influenced by each fishing group’s historical traditions, modes of production and daily life, as well as their geographical range of activity, there were subtle differences in the xiangxun attended by different fishing groups. Some groups held xiangxun at places such as Jinze (金泽), Dianshan Lake (淀山湖), Zhangjiaba (张家坝), the shores of Yangcheng Lake (阳澄湖滩), Gaojingshan (高景山), Heshan (何山), Fengqiao (枫桥), and Gaodian (高垫). Although fishermen’s visits to these sites to burn incense generally appeared to be acts of pilgrimage and prayer for blessings, there was in fact another important reason: many of their deceased relatives had been enshrined in these temples to serve as Xianfeng (先锋). This symbolic kinship between humans and deities enabled Taihu fishermen to incorporate local temples maintained by lakeside communities into their own religious world. By enshrining their ancestors in these temples, fishermen not only secured stable ritual spaces for ancestral veneration but also integrated their ancestors into an existing sacred network. Continuous ritual offerings and participation in temple worship gradually transformed these ancestral spirits from the status of the deceased to that of protective deities. For fishermen, this transformation was believed to enhance the safety of fishing activities and to bring prosperity and good fortune to the community.

Temples around Lake Tai function as shared sacred spaces open to both fishermen and land-based residents. Anyone may enter to burn incense, yet fishermen’s participation carries a distinct layer of meaning. Wealthier incense associations (香社 xiangshe)6 sometimes commission statues of deceased Tangmen Taibao, enshrining them within these temples. To outsiders unfamiliar with fishermen’s ritual history, it is nearly impossible to distinguish which statues represent widely recognized deities and which embody the fishermen’s own ancestral Xianfeng. For a Tangmen Taibao versed in lineage memory, leading a fishing group on pilgrimage is not only an act of reverence toward regional deities but also an act of remembrance for their own ancestors. In this way, ancestral devotion moves from the private household into a semi-public sacred domain. These ancestral deities of varying rank, enshrined in the temples by the fishermen, are precisely the fishermen’s Xianfeng (先锋). Within fishermen’s cosmology, the divine world is commonly divided into three tiers: upper, middle, and lower realms (Qiu 2024, pp. 236–39). The upper realm includes figures such as the Jade Emperor (yudi 玉帝), Tathāgata (rulai 如来, or the Buddha) and Yu the Great (yuwang 禹王). The middle realm comprises deities such as Guanyin (观音, or Avalokiteśvara), local City Gods, and other regional protectors across the Tai Lake basin. The lower realm consists primarily of deceased Xianfeng belonging to specific fishing groups.7 Like the Six Clerks (liuban shuli 六班书吏), the Injury Office (shangsi 伤司), the Errand Runners (chaiban 差班), the Five Routes (wudao 五道), and the dutou (都头) found in temples around Lake Tai, these lower-realm deities, with Xianfeng at their core, are closely connected to the everyday lives of fishermen. They are believed to discipline improper conduct, assist in healing, and mediate conflicts between fishing groups. When a boat household within one fishing group has been subjected to fangchang (放猖)—the release of malevolent forces—by members of another group, it is likewise the Xianfeng who mediate and make amends (Shen 2018a). In this sense, fishermen’s interaction with Xianfeng reflects a personalized mode of religiosity rather than a purely bureaucratic model as defined by Chau (2006, p. 73). The significance of Xianfeng lies precisely in its ability to fulfill religious functions that were not adequately addressed by the existing pantheon on the shore of the Taihu Lake region. Rather than replacing local deities, Xianfeng complemented them by mediating between established gods and the everyday concerns of fishing communities. Therefore, examining the Xianfeng belief of Taihu fishermen is crucial for understanding the religious life of fishermen in the Lake Tai Basin.

The aquatic mode of life of Taihu fishermen combines both mobility and enclosure. This distinctive condition of existence gave rise to the construction of belief in the ancestral deity Xianfeng, whose underlying motivation lies in the interweaving of practical hardship and spiritual aspiration.

First, the instability of life on the water prompted fishermen to anchor their faith in ritual spaces on land. Taking boats as their homes, they moved constantly and lacked fixed sites for worship, whereas onshore lineage halls and earth-god temples provided scarce yet stable ritual venues. By sacralizing deceased Tangmen Taibao (堂门太保) and ancestors as Xianfeng, fishermen ensured that, whenever they moored along the shore, they had clearly defined objects of veneration. This arrangement not only found a way around the many limitations of conducting rituals on the water, but also enabled the sharing and transmission of sacred space through the collective worship of Xianfeng, allowing otherwise dispersed fishing groups to acquire a sense of spiritual belonging on land.

Second, the scarcity of medicine and medical resources intensified the demand for ancestral protection. The waters of Lake Tai are environmentally complex. Fishing activities are exposed to storms, accidents, and unpredictable dangers, while medical care on the water has historically been extremely limited. Illness and injury thus constituted serious and recurring threats. Compared with generalized river and water deities, Xianfeng, rooted in the fishermen’s own forebears, possesses stronger ties of kinship and occupational affinity. By privileging family and lineage as the fundamental units of social life, ancestor worship extends kinship obligations beyond death. In other words, “other people’s dead were of little concern” and “the only dead to be worshipped were one’s own” (Lakos 2010, p. 17). Fishermen believe that these ancestral figures—who once lived upon the same waters and understood the conditions of survival—can respond directly to urgent needs for safety and health, serving as a source of spiritual support against risk and bodily vulnerability.

Furthermore, the particular social circumstances of Taihu fishermen encouraged the development of more exclusive forms of belief. Many fishing groups were formed through cross-regional migration and gradual integration, bringing different ritual traditions into contact. Under such conditions, a unifying religious symbol was required to consolidate the community. Emerging from the fishermen’s own ancestors and occupational predecessors, Xianfeng carry memories of migration, accumulated production experience, and shared cultural inheritance. At the same time, they absorb elements from diverse regional traditions. In this way, the worship of Xianfeng also satisfied the fishermen’s emotional identification with deities regarded as their communal ancestors while maintaining group solidarity through the sacralization of a shared ancestral figure, becoming a central religious medium through which cultural differences are negotiated and collective identity reinforced.

3. The Formation Mechanism and Ritual Tradition of Xianfeng

The formation of Xianfeng follows two principal pathways of deification. The first involves deceased ritual specialists, particularly Tangmen Taibao (堂门太保), who, after death, continue to be venerated by the fishing communities they served during their lifetimes and are consequently recognized as Xianfeng. The second comprises fishermen who died prematurely or under tragic circumstances. Such deceased individuals were often regarded as restless or potentially malevolent spirits. Through rituals conducted by the Tangmen Taibao, they are deified as Xianfeng, thereby pacifying their spirits and incorporating them into the community’s sacred order. The complexity of these procedures varies depending on the status of the deceased during his lifetime and the destination assigned after death. The simplest form is known as Zuotang Xianfeng (坐堂先锋, “hall-seated Xianfeng”). When a Tangmen Taibao passes away, his children may commission a statue and enshrine it within their own household shrine. The image is worshipped together with the deities of the “Nanbei Sichao” (南北四朝), receiving incense within the family Tangmen space. Through this act, the deceased Tangmen Taibao is transformed into a Xianfeng. This type is therefore referred to as a “Tangmen Xianfeng” (堂门先锋). The ritual process itself is relatively straightforward: after consecrating the newly made statue, it is installed and worshipped in the household shrine. In addition to the enshrinement of deceased Tangmen Taibao, ordinary fishermen may also seek to have their deceased relatives granted the status of Xianfeng. When illness or misfortune occurs within a household, the family may invite a Tangmen Taibao to consult the deities through divination. If the divination reveals that a deceased relative requests to be appointed as a Xianfeng, the Tangmen Taibao negotiates—again through divination—regarding the deceased’s preferred destination: whether to remain within the master’s ritual altar or to enter one of the temples of the “Nanbei Sichao”. Once the destination is determined, the Tangmen Taibao consults the deities regarding the required ritual payment (rutang qianliang 入堂钱粮). If the family agrees to provide the stipulated offerings, the deceased relative may then be introduced into the temple to serve as a Xianfeng. On the designated day, the family proceeds to the chosen temple, where the ritual follows the standard procedure for hosting deities, including inviting the deities to descend, welcoming them to their seats, chanting sacred songs to entertain and honor them, and duqiao (笃笤, communicating with the deities). Communication with the deities is conducted through divination blocks (tiaogao 笤筶), distributing ritual offerings of paper money and paper horses to the deities, and finally sending the gods off on their departure. In this process, the Tangmen Taibao must prepare two ritual documents (wenshu 文疏). The first, known as the rutang wenshu (入堂文疏), specifies the ritual expenses and records the reason for admitting the deceased into the hall. The second, the putang wenshu (铺堂文疏), allocates a portion of offerings to the other Xianfeng and divine functionaries within the temple, thereby ensuring the acceptance of the newly appointed figure. Once these procedures are completed, the deceased may formally assume the role of Xianfeng. This type is referred to as Dangchai Xianfeng (当差先锋), meaning a Xianfeng serving in an official capacity within the temple (Shen 2018b). If a domestic hall-seated Xianfeng was not content to remain enshrined within the domestic hall, it could also be consecrated into temples in different regions, where it would serve as a “temple-seated Xianfeng”. After becoming Xianfeng, former Tangmen Taibao are typically worshiped both by fishing households and by subsequent generations of ritual specialists. Sites of worship include household shrines, the family temple of the Tangmen Taibao, and regional temples.

Xianfeng were primarily enshrined in two types of ritual spaces: household ancestral altars maintained by fishermen and temples distributed around the Taihu Lake region. In the Lake Tai Basin, influenced by Jiangnan religious traditions, land-based residents traditionally maintained a household shrine (jiatang 家堂) where ancestral spirit tablets were enshrined. According to the painter Wang Pinyuan 王品元 (P. Wang 2019), both farmers and fishermen once commissioned painted household deity scrolls (jiatang Shenzhou 家堂神轴). After 1949, however, household shrines among land residents were largely abolished. Fishermen, due to their mobility and relative distance from land-based political campaigns, were able to preserve this custom. On fishing boats, the household shrine typically enshrines three principal deities: Liu Wang (刘王), Guanyin (观音), and Taimu (太姥). In some cases, five principal deities are depicted—for example, three Liu Wang figures along with Guanyin and Taimu. The deity scroll in the household shrine is usually rolled up and stored away, brought out only during rituals when deities are formally received and worshipped together with spirit horses and other ritual representations. After 1979, with the implementation of more permissive religious policies, the restoration of fishermen’s folk religious practices was enabled; Xianfeng figures from particular fishing groups have also been incorporated into these household deity scrolls, joining the existing pantheon of household sacred figures. Compared with ordinary fishing households, the household shrine of a Tangmen Taibao is more elaborate and contains a greater number of deities. In addition to the standard household scroll, the Tangmen Taibao maintains separate Nanbei scrolls8 representing the “Nanbei Sichao” and additional scrolls dedicated specifically to the Xianfeng of his own Tangmen. The household deity scrolls of fishing households within the same fishing group are usually commissioned from the same painter, following a set list of deities designated by the Tangmen Taibao. Beyond painted scrolls, the homes of Tangmen Taibao contain numerous small wooden statues, typically measuring ten to twenty centimeters in height. These include figures such as Liu Wang, Taimu, Taijun (太均), Qinbo (亲伯), Heihu Dawang (黑虎大王), and various figures of Xianfeng. Among them are the successive generations of Tangmen Xianfeng within the ritual lineage, as well as the founding master of the Tangmen9. Fishing households may also send the Xianfeng of their own ancestors to be enshrined in the Tangmen Taibao’s hall. Such incorporation requires the performance of a ritual of admission similar to temple enshrinement. The Tangmen Taibao generally provides this shared ritual space willingly. This type of domestic worship is “of the utmost importance because the ancestor watched over the household while the household watched the ancestor” (Lakos 2010, p. 29). During collective ceremonies, members of the fishing group experience the presence of their own ancestors within the hall, transforming the Tangmen space into a communal site of collective worship. However, this shared sacred space is open only to members of that particular Tangmen. For outsiders, it carries little meaning in terms of belonging or collective memory.

In addition to household and Tangmen enshrinement, a significant number of Xianfeng are installed in temples around Lake Tai. When a deceased Tangmen Taibao had enjoyed high prestige within the fishing group during his lifetime, or was widely recognized for his conduct, the group might collectively recommend him to serve as a Xianfeng in a regional temple. A statue would then be commissioned and placed beside the principal deity, serving as an attendant figure. Over time, some of these statues, through prolonged veneration, came to be regarded as canonical deities in their own right. The fishermen often fashioned these statues in the same size, attire, and facial style as the principal temple gods, making them difficult for outsiders to distinguish. In cases where financial resources were limited, smaller clay or wooden figures of five or seven inches in height were installed. These smaller statues are easier to identify in comparison with the larger temple-scale figures.

As recorded in the Gazetteer of Taihu Town (Taihu Zhenzhi 太湖镇志), “The beliefs of Taihu fishermen are highly diverse, with religion and superstition intertwined. Deities from the heavenly, earthly, and underworld realms are all worshipped, and figures associated with Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism are all venerated” (Taihu Zhenzhi Bianzun Weiyuanhui 2014, pp. 419–20), while remaining distinctly oriented towards pragmaticism such as worldly protection and livelihood prosperity. Within this broader religious environment, Xianfeng worship gradually became integrated into regional temple networks and local ritual practice.

The diverse types of Xianfeng and the ritual procedures through which they are generated therefore bear clear traces of Confucian and Daoist ritual traditions. In terms of their formation, Xianfeng arise from the sacralization of forebears within the fishing community, displaying diverse forms depending on the status and merit of the deceased. Two principal types may be distinguished. The first is the “ancestral-master Xianfeng” (祖师先锋 zushi xianfeng), formed from deceased Tangmen Taibao and ritual leaders who were skilled in both fishing techniques and ritual performance. They are regarded as transmitters of occupational knowledge and spiritual authority. The second is the “lineage-ancestor Xianfeng” (宗祖先锋 zongzu xianfeng), derived from respected leaders or meritorious forebears within the fishing group, carrying collective memories of migration and survival. This generative logic centers on the worship of recent ancestors rather than distant mythic founders. According to Yu, “this was because ancestors with direct blood ties seemed more capable of exerting mysterious protective and blessing powers, thus fostering the worship of ancestral spirits” (2026, p. 4). By sacralizing the practical wisdom and moral authority of predecessors, fishermen create a belief system that responds simultaneously to kinship identity and occupational solidarity. Through this process of human-to-divine transformation, the dispersed fishing community acquires a shared spiritual core.

An important tradition embedded in this belief is the idea that “spirits without sacrifices become malevolent ghosts” (wusi weili 无祀为厉). The Zuo Commentary (《左传》) records a story in which the people of Zheng were disturbed by the ghost of Bo You. The unrest ceased only after Zi Chan appointed Boyou’s son Liang Zhi to offer sacrifices to his father. As Zi Chan explained, “When ghosts have a place to return to, they do not become malevolent spirits; I provided them with such a place” (Yang 1981, p. 1292). This notion that “When ghosts have a place to return to, they do not become malevolent spirits” profoundly influenced fishermen’s Xianfeng worship. For more than two millennia, this belief has reinforced the idea that neglected spirits are likely to bring misfortune, whereas ritual sacrifice can pacify the dead and restore social order. In popular religion and folk practice, ancestral rites, lineage continuation, and the maintenance of ancestral halls all serve to provide the spirits of the dead with ritual belonging. Such practices express filial remembrance while also seeking familial and communal stability. This understanding became a central logic of traditional Chinese beliefs concerning spirits and ancestors, and it continues to shape the religious practices of fishermen’s ancestral worship.

Ritual can be seen as a way of communication, and “a powerful and most effective form” (Lakos 2010, p. 4). At the level of ritual form, the worship of Xianfeng incorporates elements associated with both Confucian ceremonial order and Daoist ritual practice. Ancestor rites are performed by Confucian specialists while zhaijiao (斋醮) rituals are done by the Daoist priests. Rituals that facilitated communication between the living and their ancestors transmit understandings of both the social and cosmic realms. This emphasis on ritual was reinforced by Confucianism, which “exalted the value of ritual and ritualized behavior in general” (Chu and Ebrey 1991, p. xv). The Confucian idea of “governance through ritual” (lizhi 礼治) runs throughout the entire ceremony. The sacrificial procedure follows the principle of “reverence, caution, and dignified comportment” (jingshen weiyi 敬慎威仪). From the preparation of offerings, to the arrangement of ritual positions, to the drafting of the memorial text, the Xianfeng worship practices of fishermen all embody the ethical concept of hierarchical order and filial devotion to ancestors, and are in continuous lineage with the ritual norms of sacrifices practiced on land. These sacrificial rituals can be understood as symbolically “resurrecting” the ancestors in the minds of their descendants and thereby maintaining the continuity of the lineage across generations in a Confucian sense (Jia and Zhang 2025, p. 10). Daoist influence appears in procedures of communication between humans and deities, such as chanting, incense invocation, and divinatory consultation. Drawing upon the symbolic system and operational logic of Daoist zhaijiao (斋醮) rituals, it constructs a bridge of communication between the secular and the sacred. Ritual instruments such as the tangluo (铴锣) gongs and drums, along with formalized procedures of feast arrangement and hymn chanting, preserve core elements of the ancient ritual traditions. Over centuries of transmission, these practices have retained relative structural continuity, offering a living example of how Confucian and Daoist ritual cultures are localized within fishermen’s religious life.

4. Functions of Xianfeng Belief

Xianfeng belief served as a central religious and social bond that sustained the waterborne communities of Taihu fishermen. Beyond providing spiritual protection, it reinforced communal solidarity. Fishing groups often construct small, dedicated shrines for their own Xianfeng, within which regular ritual activities are conducted throughout the year. These privately enshrined figures are referred to as Tangmen Xianfeng (堂门先锋), meaning that the Xianfeng “serves within the hall” of the group. Even within this private mode of enshrinement, subtle distinctions exist. Some Tangmen create their own Xianfeng, which are venerated exclusively by the members of the associated fishing group. These Xianfeng served only as the protective ancestors of a single fishing community and do not extend beyond that group. Taking the Xinglong Society (Xinglong She 兴隆社) of Lake Tai as an example, the successive generations of its Tangmen Taibao are enshrined together with Guanyin (观音) and Liu Wang (刘王) within the family temple. These deceased ritual specialists are recognized as Tangmen xianfeng. In the Xu family’s Xinglong Society, the principal deities enshrined include Guanyin, Liu Wang Qiansui (刘王千岁), Dongyue (东岳), and Jiudongjia (九东家). In addition, twenty-eight named Xianfeng are worshipped, including Wang Jiangjun (王将军), Wang Laoye (王老爷), Qian Xubao (钱叙宝), Xi Dacai (奚大财), and others, along with unnamed ancestral figures (See Appendix A). Shared ancestor worship fostered collective memory, reinforced norms of mutual assistance among fishing groups, alleviated the sense of displacement associated with life on the water, and created a community grounded both in emotional ties and social order. To this day, Xianfeng belief remains a key cultural force linking fishing communities across the Taihu Lake region and sustaining their collective identity.

Xianfeng worship among Taihu fishermen has consistently served as a living expression of ancestral memory. Historically, fishing groups often lacked the financial resources to construct independent temples, so they commonly installed their Xianfeng within existing temples maintained by shore-based communities. For example, in the ritual invitation list of the Beiliufang Nuanjiao Ban (北六房暖轿班, the Nuanjiao Troupe of the Northern Sixth Division), deities and Xianfeng from thirty-six temples centered around Lake Tai are worshipped (Shen 2019a). During the ritual of hosting the deities (daishen 待神), records are kept of the deceased boys and girls who died prematurely (Gongzi 公子, Xiaojie 小姐) and Tangmen Taibao who had been enshrined in various temples. This suggests that networks existed among different Tangmen lineages.

Shen Shougen 沈寿根, an elder Tangmen Taibao, preserved detailed knowledge of the historical relationships between successive ritual specialists and regional temples. His testimony provides valuable clues for reconstructing the lineage-based history of fishermen’s belief practices. Fishing groups do not enshrine Xianfeng randomly. In most cases, they install them in temples with which their group maintains the closest historical relationship. Such temples are referred to as the group’s bentang (本堂, primary temple), and the principal deity of that temple is known as the group’s kaobei (靠背, supporting deity). During temple festivals at their bentang, fishing groups participate actively and exert considerable effort. To demonstrate the power and prestige of both their supporting deity and their Xianfeng, fishermen organize elaborate procession performances during the deity’s birthday celebrations, using these rituals to honor and glorify the deity. In some instances, the same Xianfeng appears in multiple temples (see Appendix B). Xu Chunyang (徐春阳), for example, was originally associated with the Chaoyang Temple (朝阳庙) in the Hushan area of Guangfu in Suzhou (光福虎山), where the Xu family once fished on Lake Tai. When the Chaoyang Temple fell into disrepair, the Xu lineage transferred their ancestor to the Dongyue Temple (东岳庙) at Hushan. Consequently, in Shen Shougen’s ritual invocations, both temples are mentioned as sites where the Xu lineage’s Xianfeng may be summoned. Although the Xu family has since relocated from West Lake Tai to East Lake Tai, they continue to participate in the Dongyue temple fair on the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month. At Hushan, statues of Xu Chunyang and other ancestors remain enshrined. The Dongyue deity there is referred to by the fishermen of the Xu lineage as “Old Master” (老东家), a term suggesting a relationship of service to the temple’s principal deity.

In contemporary practice, many newly established Tangmen Taibao no longer invite Xianfeng from other fishing groups during ritual hosting. Due to social transformations and generational discontinuities, the transmission between older and younger ritual specialists has weakened. Since the 1990s, many fishing groups have only gradually resumed collective incense pilgrimages. Numerous newly initiated Tangmen Taibao possess limited knowledge of earlier ritual traditions. In some cases, deity praise songs are no longer performed. On deity birthdays, preparations may consist simply of a table of food and the burning of ritual paper offerings, after which the ceremony concludes. The ritual procedures, oral invocations, and ceremonial processions are passed down from one generation to the next, preserving memories of life on water and the cooperative ethos that once sustained Taihu fishing communities. Through these rituals, fishermen commemorate the hardships and moral values of their ancestors, while passing on ancestral knowledge and communal narratives. In this way, Xianfeng worship continues to sustain the collective memory of the Taihu fishing communities.

Over time, certain figures of Xianfeng have come to occupy particularly prominent positions within fishermen’s beliefs. One such figure is Beixuejing Taiye (北雪泾太爷). Originally enshrined at Beixuejing by his father as a Xianfeng, Taiye gradually accumulated a reputation for efficacy through circulating accounts of spiritual responsiveness. As these narratives spread, increasing numbers of fishing groups began to acknowledge and worship him. During rituals of hosting the deities (daishen 待神), many fishing groups prepare an additional five small dishes specifically for Beixuejing Taiye. Since offerings in fishermen’s ritual contexts are generally standardized, only deities of special standing receive separate and distinctive offerings. The provision of five small dishes thus signals a heightened level of recognition, indicating that Taiye’s status in fishermen’s perception has surpassed that of ordinary local deities and typical Xianfeng (Shen 2019b). Another example concerns a young groom (mafu 马夫) under the guardian deity of Gaojingshan (高景山城隍). This boy died at the age of nine and was subsequently enshrined there as a Xianfeng by a Tangmen Taibao. Through the circulation of efficacy stories among fishermen, he came to be known as “King of Groom” (马夫王). During ritual hosting, many fishing groups now prepare a separate offering tray10 for him as well (Shen 2018a). The circulation and acceptance of particular Xianfeng across multiple fishing groups result from both historical continuity and ritual transmission. Once earlier generations of Tangmen Taibao adopted certain practices, their numerous disciples carried these patterns into other fishing groups as they established independent ritual careers. In this way, ritual forms within a given region often display striking similarities. Furthermore, fishing groups that share the same supporting deity and primary temple tend to maintain a comparable deity worship system. During collective temple festivals, they observe one another’s practices. Deities associated with compelling efficacy narratives are frequently adopted by neighboring groups. Through the combined influence of inherited ritual precedent and circulating efficacy accounts, fishermen’s belief systems gradually produced a diverse range of Xianfeng, each bearing distinct identities and ritual functions.

The Xianfeng belief of Taihu fishermen is a concrete form of their reverence for ritual specialists within the fishing group and for their ancestors. A Xianfeng is both a ritual expert of the fishermen and their own ancestor. As in many societies, ancestor worship in China is concerned not only with commemorating the dead and ensuring their well-being after death, but also with shaping relationships among families, households, and lineages (Jordan 1985, p. 134). The veneration of Xianfeng by fishermen is at once an act of commemorating ancestors and a process of accumulating spiritual power for them. For ordinary fishing households, the Tangmen Taibao, while alive, could expel illness and epidemics, preside over various rituals, mediate family disputes, and assist households in coping with sudden emergencies. After the death of a Tangmen Taibao, when he becomes a xianfeng of the fishing group, his image is painted into the household shrine (jiatang 家堂) of fishing families, where he serves as a protective deity of the home, safeguarding the safety of the household members. The Xianfeng belief of Taihu fishermen is a product of folk religious practice. The creation of Xianfeng represents a microcosm of the deification movement. The process by which a deity spreads gradually from a small circle, is accepted step by step by a wider community, and ultimately gains broad public recognition is exemplified in the belief practices surrounding fishermen’s Xianfeng.

The belief in Xianfeng developed alongside the professionalization of the Tangmen Taibao. Although Tangmen Taibao from different fishing groups do not form a rigid hierarchical structure, within each individual group the ritual specialist occupies a position of considerable authority. Through divination practices and limited medical knowledge, the Tangmen Taibao is able to diagnose misfortune, preside over rituals, mediate domestic conflicts, and address emergencies. Fishermen commonly express the idea that “if one believes, there is efficacy; if one does not believe, there is none” (信则有灵，不信则不灵 xin ze youling, buxin ze buling). Within such a framework, elements of folk religion and ritual magic become interwoven. The Tangmen Taibao is regarded with both reverence and apprehension. At the same time, fishing groups are structured largely along lines of shared surname or kinship, which constrains ritual authority within familial networks. The relationship between Tangmen Taibao and most fishing households is therefore marked by both blood ties and ritual affiliation. The notion that “one is numinous in life and becomes a deity after death” contributed to the emergence of Xianfeng. Initially, Xianfeng originated in the personal veneration of deceased Tangmen Taibao. Over time, however, the criteria for enshrinement broadened. The range of those eligible to become Xianfeng gradually expanded, and eventually almost any deceased fisherman might be incorporated under certain conditions. As a result, the ritual of “deifying a Xianfeng” (feng xianfeng 封先锋) became an established component of the Tangmen Taibao’s ritual repertoire. Despite the theoretical possibility that any fisherman could attain such status, economic constraints meant that most households sought to enshrine a relative as Xianfeng only when circumstances made it necessary.

5. Conclusions

Overall, the Xianfeng belief of Taihu fishermen emerged under the particular historical, environmental, and social conditions of Taihu fishermen’s waterborne lives. It embodies fishermen’s faith in and reverence for familial deities and serves as an important means by which they responded to existential hardship and sought spiritual consolation. This phenomenon can also be found in other waterborne communities. Like many fishing communities around the world, Taihu Lake fishermen developed protective religious practices in response to the uncertainties of life on the water. Similar protective roles have been attributed to local sea spirits in Southeast Asia (Andaya 2017) and boat spirits such as funadama in Japan (Rambelli 2018, pp. 194–98). What distinguishes Xianfeng belief, however, is that the protection is sought out not primarily through sea deities or aquatic spirits, but through the ritual deification of ancestors. In this sense, Xianfeng belief represents a distinctive form of protective ancestor worship rooted in social organization and ritual traditions of a lake-based fishing community.

In the absence of scientific knowledge, fishermen were unable to provide scientific explanations for the causes of illness and instead attributed them to the disturbance of spirits. This understanding directly gave rise to various types of Xianfeng, including deceased boys and girls who had died prematurely. Fishermen’s emotional attitudes toward Xianfeng feature a complex duality. Toward figures such as Tangmen Xianfeng who are regarded as positive and protective, fishermen express reliance and trust, viewing them as guarantees of survival and prosperity. Toward prematurely deceased Gongzi and Xiaojie, however, fishermen harbor attitudes of both fear and reverence: they simultaneously fear the possibility of spiritual disturbance and feel compelled to appease them through ritual offerings. This paradoxical attitude towards deities is commonly seen in Chinese folk religions: in the ongoing relationship between deities and worshippers, worshippers express gratitude for divine assistance while expecting the deities to demonstrate their power by responding to further needs. Deities are believed to possess both protective and harmful powers. Therefore, a deity “will doubtlessly be feared if he shows anger; he will also be obeyed if he issues a direct command (Ahern 1974, p. 305). This ambivalent emotional structure and the associated ritual practices reflect, in essence, fishermen’s attempts to confront and manage anxieties surrounding birth, aging, illness, and death. This presents a vivid portrayal of the spiritual world of marginalized communities in traditional society.

With social development and modernization, the Xianfeng belief of Taihu fishermen has undergone noticeable transformation. Modern medical knowledge gradually altered fishermen’s understanding of illness, and the notion that disease was caused by spirits lost much of its plausibility. As modes of production changed and fishing practices became increasingly modernized, income sources diversified and fishing no longer posed the same risks to survival. Reliance on Xianfeng belief has declined substantially as a result. Today, Xianfeng belief persists more in the form of cultural memory. Stories passed down from earlier generations have become part of local folk culture. The continued practice of enshrining ancestors in temples, following earlier precedents, no longer necessarily carries strong religious conviction; rather, it often functions as a mode of remembrance and the continuation of familial sentiment.

New social changes have reduced the space where traditional beliefs once operated. Improved public education has fostered more rational forms of understanding, and the spread of scientific knowledge has weakened earlier notions of spiritual causality. At the same time, improvements in social security and living standards have reduced the need to rely on supernatural forces in confronting hardship. The implementation of the lake-wide fishing withdrawal policy in 202011, undertaken within the broader context of China’s Yangtze River ecological conservation, has fundamentally transformed the social foundations upon which Xianfeng belief once depended and accelerated the decline of the traditional fishing community. The consolatory function once fulfilled by Xianfeng belief has been replaced by other social mechanisms, including state welfare systems and new forms of social support.

Nevertheless, this process should not be understood simply as the inevitable disappearance of belief. Studies of other water-related supernatural traditions show that these folk religions may be reconfigured rather than entirely abandoned. In the Faroe Islands, for example, older narratives of boat spirits and aquatic beings continue to be retold and reworked in response to the changing fishing practices, globalization, and new understandings of danger and island identities (Gaini 2022). In the Taihu Lake region, Xianfeng belief can persist as collective memory, family history, and cultural identity, retaining emotional and social significance. The contemporary trajectory of Xianfeng belief is thus better described as functional transformation and selective continuity than as simple decline. This process of transformation not only reflects changes in the spiritual life of Taihu fishermen but also illustrates broader patterns in the evolution of traditional folk belief within the context of modernization in China. This study provides a regional case through which to examine the relationship between folk religion and social change.