Nanxijiang

The juju will be effective after the rites and it will be hang on the top of the family gate protecting the family from evil spirits for an entire year. The magic art lives in the words, so we guess the evil spirits has to be quite literary as well. it is not the easiest character to write or read...

Elsewhere, religion is supposed to be something one takes side about for or against, not here. There is no strict Buddhist or Taoist temples could be found in the villages in Nanxijiang area. People are much more relaxed about it and often only remember to go and pray for blessing at certain difficult times. Instead of believing in an omnipotent god, they trust all good spirits and gods. As the say goes "whoever answers my prayer is a good god, and deserving an altar" So Taoist masters task are to work as massager between the earthly and those spirits in multiple belief, mediating thank- you-notes to all the good spirits who happened to hear them

In traditional Chinese belief, to worship ancestor is a way to connect with the past, and to acknowledge human needs of to be rooted; which has been abandoned by many modern Chinese who think the past can be the burden for the future. People here still following the ancestor's doctrine dutifully, believing the past to be the compass to look into in present every day life and even future.

So coming to pay respect to the ancestors memorial temple is as necessary for a family member here as for a Christian going to church, only not as a child in shakable faith but a child of a definite kin.

To escape the military turbulence at the end of tang dynasty, chen family came to furong village and rebuilt the village from scratch. The family clan grew and prospered unstop for more than 700 years. its glorious past is documented in this well preserved family tree, the most trearable asset of a village.

We were reminded for the first time in our life the original purpose of a name. It is not merely a sound plus a spelling of a single person, but a form of collectivity existence, one's link inherited from the past, one's link to the future. A minute collection of people grouped around father and mother, husband or wife, children, cousin....