NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM I97 



through a dream, or in the person of a beggar, or otherwise, and this 

 has led them to erect a temple to contain his image. Or a member 

 of a family has prayed to a god to heal a sick person and the ap- 

 parently miraculous recovery of the sick person has led to the belief 

 that the god was very merciful and efficacious, with the result that 

 a temple was built for him. 



Every temple has at least one important meeting of its constituents 

 a year, and at this meeting collections may be solicited. These con- 

 tributions are used for various purposes — to give a new painting or 

 "new clothing" to the images of the gods, to repair the temples, or 

 even to build new temples. 



When a Buddhist or a Taoist society decides to erect a new tem- 

 ple at a certain place, priests are sent out over a wide section of coun- 

 try, sometimes soliciting millions of people, most of whom contribute 

 something. This is continued until the temple is built and paid for. 



There are many sources of temple income. Of primary importance 

 are lands and houses, which are often given by old people or devout 

 worshipers to accumulate merit and sometimes in payment of vows. 

 Up to about 191 5 the number of properties owned by the temples of 

 West China was very great. I was often told that in Suifu at that 

 time about half the houses and shops belonged to the temples. At 

 Kuanhsien and other places I was told that large stretches of farm and 

 forest lands had belonged to the temples. Temples and their property 

 were sometimes confiscated and used by schools, but more often they 

 were confiscated and sold by the war lords, especially Liu Wen-huei 

 and the Twenty- fourth Army of which he was the head. In time many 

 individuals and organizations were guilty of occupying temples and 

 paying little or no rent and of confiscating temples and their property, 

 often simply because they could get away with it. In the case of 

 schools the process seemed more justifiable and had more general 

 popular approval. Both the temples and the schools were thought of 

 as belonging to the people, so that if the people no longer wanted 

 the temples and temple property for the worship of idols, they be- 

 lieved they had the right to change the use from worship of the gods 

 to the education of the people. The great upsurge in popular educa- 

 tion and the great demand for new schools were often at least par- 

 tially met in this way. 



People praying for healing, sons, the change of luck from bad to 

 good, or other favors, often promise or vow to make contributions 

 if the prayers are answered. This is a large source of income, since 

 nobody fails to pay a vow if the prayer is answered. 



