The Confucian Transformation of Local Cults in Huizhou Prefecture in the Yuan-Ming Transition Period: A Case Study of Zhiben Hall.

This paper studies the history of Zhiben Hall in Dafan village in Huizhou prefecture in the Yuan-Ming transition period and describes the trend of Confucian transformation of local cults in this area. The Zhiben Hall built by Wang Tong and his brother Wang Rui, two famous local 61ites in Wuyuan sub-prefecture, based on an old temple of a local god of war named Duan Gong. In Zhiben Hall the god Duan Gong was pictured as a Confucianized figure, Wang Pen, who can be located in the lineage of the Wang's in Dafan village and whose story can be traced in Xin'an zhi, the first official annals of this area. The transformation of Duan Gong from a god to an ancestor marked the initiation of lineage building in this area and reflected the remodification of social ideal borne by those local 61ites such as the Wang's brothers. This new tendency, furthermore, was accompanied with the wide spread of Neo-Confucianism in Huizhou prefecture from the late Yuan to early Ming times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]