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Bodies and Structures 2.0: Deep-Mapping Modern East Asian History

Preparing the Ceremonies

As Paul Katz points out, most plague-expulsion festivals in Zhejiang centered on the cult of Marshal Wen (also known as the Loyal and Defending King), whose multiple images co-existed and mutually shaped one another. The ceremonies of “sending a boat” took place when epidemics struck. In Wenzhou, elders met and organized the rituals at the temple that enshrined the King of the Eastern Ou (circa 251–185 BCE), an ancient king who protected and developed Wenzhou over 2,000 years ago. They urged local people as well as other temples to donate funds to support the ceremonies. They also hired Daoist priests to prepare and perform the ritual in front of the temple of the King of the Eastern Ou.

The ceremonies could be performed either for the communities or for the individuals. Yet not all people can afford the donation or hire their priests. Some regions thus developed creative ways to organize the rituals for the people in need. According to a report of the Shen Bao, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers, to hold such a ritual in Wenzhou, each family had to pay at least 30-40 foreign silver dollars. The expenses included the fees for the priests and the costs of the boat, the paper ritual items, the candles, and the sacrifice offerings. In 1883, for example, the epidemic struck Wenzhou and killed many people. Some families then hired Daoist priests to perform the ritual for their sick family members. Others who did not join in advance could still participate on the site by sailing alongside the plague boat. In some villages, people helped their fellow villagers who got infected by donating sacrifice animals for the ritual. This could help strengthen community solidarity; yet, in the end, some regions run out of livestock and went starving because of the ritual. In some cases, tragedies happened while others were celebrating joyous events. During the plague of 1883, a carpenter was dying because of the pandemic, while another family in his residence complex was holding wedding ceremony. While the relatives of the carpenter were crying hard, the loud music of the wedding drowned out their voice so that the guests did not hear their crying. In 1887, when the epidemic struck Wenzhou again, priests were busy with sending off the boats and doctors were hurrying to treat the patients. Some patients died within few hours and some even collapsed on the road. The managers of the Temple of the Eastern Peak, where Marshal Wen served the Emperor of the Eastern Peak, hurriedly raised funds and sent Marshal Wen to patrol the streets. On the other hand, pharmacies and coffin shops were flourishing due to the pandemic. All such stories about sadness and happiness were not uncommon in the life of Wenzhou during the years of plagues.

The rituals also caused disputes within the communities. In 1883, a man prepared the sacrificed animals for the ritual as his mother-in-law was infected during the pandemic. His house was too small for the feast, so he asked the shop across the street to hold the ritual for him. The entire ritual took several nights. Each night, the man took the sacrificed food from the shop to serve his sick mother-in-law; yet, the latter complained about the taste of the oily soup she got. The man then checked with the shop and found that the shop used the meat and the soup from last night without preparing a new one. While furious at the ways the shop took away his fresh food, he threw the soup to the shop. In 1884, the plague struck the city again. The ceremonies of sending a boat were performed and the music of the rituals were loud even during the nighttime. Some local bullies visited the families that held the ceremony in order to extort foods and wines prepared for the deities. A group of hooligans asked the Zhaos for food and got chickens, ducks, and wines. They were still not satisfied and took the entire set of sacrifice food from the Zhaos. The latter then asked the security guards and firefighters to expel these hooligans.

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