NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 205 



THE USES OF THE TEMPLES 



Practically all the temples of West China were built for worship 

 only. But there were great changes in West China, and indeed in all 

 China, during the first half of the 20th century, and it came about that 

 by 1948 less than 10 percent of the temples were used for worship 

 only, and in nearly 90 percent there was little worship or none at all. 

 These great changes were manifestations of a political, social, psycho- 

 logical, and religious revolution. In Chengtu the temples that were 

 used exclusively for worship were mostly small ones that were not 

 useful for other purposes, and the 17 that were used for other pur- 

 poses but also had many worshipers were usually large, famous old 

 temples that had much prestige. 



During the last Japanese war and World War II, the population of 

 Chengtu increased from 500,000 to 700,000. Some houses were de- 

 stroyed by Japanese bombs. Rooms, houses, and apartments were hard 

 to rent, and rentals were high. This explains the fact that in our 

 survey we found that more temples — 56 in all — were being used as 

 apartments than for any other purpose. Those who lived in these 

 apartments were generally poor people who earned their living with 

 their hands. They often lived in a single room, and most families 

 had several children. Rooms were separated from each other by 

 plaster walls or by bamboo mats. Most of these temples were in 

 poor repair. 



During the years from 1927 to 1937 the national government of 

 China greatly increased the number of public schools. The aim was 

 to make the people literate and intelligent so that they could learn 

 to be good citizens in a democratic country, and gradually to in- 

 crease their powers as citizens as rapidly as they learned and showed 

 themselves capable of using them. But school buildings and school 

 property were very expensive. Both temples and schools were re- 

 garded as belonging to the public. Since temples and temple prop- 

 erty were being confiscated and used for other purposes, why not 

 for schools? To the people it seemed that if they were not to be 

 used for worship, this was their most appropriate use. In Chengtu 

 in 1944 the second largest number of temples — a total of 49 — were 

 being used as schools, mostly primary schools. 



One-sixth of the temples of Chengtu were used as barracks for 

 soldiers. After the fall of Yuan Shih K'ai in 191 6, war lords seized 

 power. To increase their military strength they greatly augmented 

 their armies. They so overtaxed the people that the tax burden was 

 almost unbearable. One war lord in Szechwan collected 32 years of 



