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Abstract

This essay discusses the central role of local communal tem-ples in Putian society during the Song. The importance of Buddhist monastic estates in this period is also emphasized, as are several differ-ent paths to the establishment of lineages and ancestral halls. While the Song was a period of extraordinary achievements in Neo-Confucian studies, there were many areas of the Putian plains where this influence was not strongly felt, and where alternative sub-cultures developed around village level shentong (神童) spirit mediums and local temples. And in areas with strong lineages the inscriptional record in the temples indicates that the literati also had important roles in their home village temples, often composing inscriptions, serving on temple management boards, and contributing to restoration campaigns. Thus the scholar lite-rati continued to play important roles in village level worship associa-tions in addition to their ritual activities within their own lineage halls. The article reveals the complexity of the ritual sphere in Putian in the Song, while also briefly tracing some of the subsequent transformations of society and local communal religion in later periods.