The Formation and Characteristics of Fujian Cultural Tradition

The regional cultural characteristics of southern Fujian were not formed overnight, but experienced a long historical evolution process. Before Qin and Han Dynasties, Fujian aborigines had little contact with the Central Plains, and indigenous folk customs formed their own system. Historically, the Yue people in this period lived by the water, were used to water wars, made good use of boats, and prevailed in primitive witchcraft. By the Han Dynasty, people in the Central Plains still thought that Minzhong and its residents were "places outside the Party and people with tattoos." From the Han, Jin and Five Dynasties, the Han nationality in the Central Plains began to migrate to the southeast coast. With the influx of Han people into Fujian, the Han culture spread rapidly from north to south in central Fujian, and the folk customs of Han people, such as production customs, life customs, life etiquette, Chinese New Year holidays and religious beliefs, gradually replaced the indigenous folk customs and occupied a dominant position.

At the same time, some Han people intermarry with natives, or natives automatically turn into Han people in order to adapt to the new social environment, and some customs and humanistic characteristics of Fujian and Guangdong people have also precipitated and become an important part of the regional cultural characteristics of southern Fujian. Song Dynasty is an important period for the all-round development of Fujian's social economy, and it is also an important turning point for the formation and evolution of southern Fujian's regional cultural characteristics. Under the historical condition that China's economic center of gravity moved southward, Fujian's economy became one of the developed regions in a short time. In particular, the rise of Fujian studies in the Song Dynasty played an important guiding role in Fujian culture and folk customs, including Minnan culture.

This social, economic and cultural environment provides good special conditions for preserving and developing China's traditional cultural customs. After tempering in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Minnan regional culture as a unique character has basically taken shape. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Fujian, especially Minnan, experienced a strong impact of marine social economy and culture. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the commodity market economy in China flourished, and the boundaries among scholars, agriculture, industry and commerce gradually blurred, and the traditional agricultural economy was more mixed with various economic components. At the same time, the ideological and cultural circles are brewing the ideological impulse of seeking innovation and change, which has played a positive role in promoting the maturity of regional cultural characteristics in southern Fujian. The "cultural characteristics of southern Fujian" we are discussing now should undoubtedly be based on southern Fujian in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Although the formation and maturity of Minnan culture developed with the spread of Central Plains culture in Fujian, the mainstream culture of China has a leading influence on the formation and maturity of Minnan regional culture. However, we should also see that the so-called mainstream culture in China is not static, but is subtly influenced by the changes of the times. The pre-Qin period was a period of "a hundred schools of thought contend" in China culture. With the establishment of the unified centralized political system in Qin and Han Dynasties, Confucian culture gradually became the mainstream ideology of this political system. The exclusive position of Confucian culture has played an irreplaceable historical role in maintaining China's unified centralized political system and integrating and absorbing multi-ethnic cultural factors.

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, China's unified centralized system has become increasingly totalitarian, and the bureaucratic bad habits of being conservative and hypocritical for selfish ends have gradually become a common social atmosphere. The corresponding ideological and cultural ideology has also experienced serious polarization and variation. On the one hand, empty talk about high-profile moral standards is often out of reach, on the other hand, superstition of power and mercenary has become the code of conduct for many literati to settle down. It can be said that since the Song Dynasty, although some scholars and intellectuals tried to adhere to the pre-Qin Confucian moral norms, on the whole, the mainstream culture of the Central Plains, as the core of political rule, has become more and more hypocritical and dignified. The mainstream culture of the Central Plains basically spread from north to south to various border areas. Relatively speaking, the more frontier, the weaker the influence of the mainstream culture of the Central Plains.