Temple-Building and Heritage in China, Selina Ching Chan

• Building Huang Da Xian temples in Jinhua, in the Lower Yangtze Delta, is a "heritage" process, an interpretation, manipulation, and invention of the past for present and future interests
• Local memories of the saint Huang Da Xian were awakened by Hong Kong pilgrims, and the subsequent construction of temples enacted the politics of nationalism with a transnational connection
• The process of remembering the saint and constructing temples creates, mediates, and invents relationships between the locals in Jinhua and Chinese living in mainland China and elsewhere
• The multiple meanings of temple-building are examined for mainland Chinese, Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the nation state
• While the mainlanders treat new temples as places to perform religious activities, attract tourists, and develop the local economy, temple construction for the overseas Chinese is a nostalgic search for authenticity and roots
• The state has utilized Huang Da Xian as a symbol of nationalism to reinforce a Chinese The preAt an individual level, temples are often understood to be built to solve anxieties and problems for people living in cities and villages
• Various forces within the state create or revive temples and grant different meanings to the practice of religion at the local level
• But the role of overseas Chinese in reviving or creating religious activities and celebrations has received relatively little attention
• The present study complements the studies just mentioned by revealing the multiple meanings of temples for people living in China and Hong Kong, and how they and the nation state utilize and appropriate the meanings differently
• A case study of Wong Tai Sin examines the above two questions
• Wong Tai Sin was a Taoist saint and a native of Jinhua Municipality, Zhejiang Province, in the Lower Yangtze Delta 
• Transnational influence was of prime importance in portraying Wong Tai Sin temples as heritage an in "staging authenticity"
• This article delineates how local people "put their culture (including themselves) on sale in order to create an appealing package
• Most of the data for this paper were collected during field trips to Hangzhou, Jinhua, Lanxi, and Hong Kong in 1999,2000, and 2003
• Overseas Chinese played a dominant role in inventing the Wong Tai Sin heritage
• In 1984, Chinese from Se Se Yuen (Hong Kong Wong Tai Sin Temple's management committee) first visited Jinhua
• To the amazement of the Hong Kong Chinese, Wong Tai Sin was not popular in his home area, and most locals did not know of him
• At that time, there was no temple in Jinhua dedicated to Wong Tai Sin, and the locals worshipped other gods at other temples within the city
• Subsequently, the cadres became active in reviving religion and in transforming spaces relating to Wong Tai Sin into sites and attractions
• Another piece of heritage regarding the importance of Wong Tai Sin arose as external information in Zhong Tou village, in Chisong County, about a twenty-minute drive from Jinhua city center
• A village intellectual, Mr. Shou, read in the magazine Hong Kong Scenic Spots that Wong Tai Sin was very popular in Hong Kong and overseas
• Mr. Shou subsequently drew a connection between the abandoned temple in his village, Chisong Gong, and the saint
• He initiated a transnational connection by writing to Se Se Yuan, the management committee of Hong Kong's Wong Tai Sin Temple, to inform them that Wong Tai Sin was a native of his village
• The visitors from Se Se Yuan knelt down near the temple to worship
• Seeing this, the villagers were touched, and subsequently decided to reconstruct the Two Saints Temple for themselves and for Hong Kong pilgrims
• Like the previous two cases, the memory of Wong Tai Sin in Huang Peng, a village about twenty kilometers west of Jinhua city center, was revived by the Hong Kong connection
• Higher up along the same mountain slope as Chisong Gong, Chisong Daoyuan was built in 1997 and mainly managed by a Taiwanese investor and worshiper, Ms. Luo, who had a clothing factory there
• The inspiration to have Wong Tai Sin temples in Jinhua was not sparked by his importance in the local community or the nation, but rather by his importance elsewhere, particularly in a former British colony
• All five temples are the result of deliberate planning and reconstruction
• Only two, Chisong Gong and Jinhua Guan, were built on sites where temples dedicated to Wong Tai Sin were previously located
• The other temples are "genuine fakes" because they are newly built and intended to arouse deep, genuine feelings in the visiting pilgrims
• In both meeting the interests of Hong Kong visitors and providing a sense of familiarity and nostalgia in "staging authenticity," the Hong Kong influence was also highlighted
• As for capital and finance, Chisong Daoyuan was mainly funded by Ms. Luo
• One of the buildings, "the Hall for Thousands of Saints," which commemorates various emperors in different dynasties, was funded entirely by Taiwanese Taoist worshipers
• Staged authenticity is also revealed in the way local people promote Huang Da Xian culture to appeal to tourists, including Chinese mainlanders and overseas Chinese
• Wong Tai Sin temples in Jinhua attempt to model their charitable practices after the Hong Kong Se Se Yuan, especially on the principle of pukiquansan (charity and kindness)
• The visits of pilgrims from overseas have also proven to be important gestures reinforcing the sense of authenticity of these heritage sites
• Since the temple was first established, several tour groups were also brought from Taiwan through Ms. Luo's connections
• Most of these Taiwanese tourists had not heard of Wong Tai Sin and came merely because it was one of the stops in a tour package
• Although different groups of Hong Kong visitors played different roles in financing the temples and designing the icons, they were not competing with one another, which is quite different from the case of Taiwanese pilgrims who sponsored and financed the temples of Mazu in Fujian
• According to the fourth-century Taoist theorist and writer Ge Hong, the saint was from Danxi in Jinhua city
• But the historian Wong suggested that Danxi was in Sechuan province, and far from Jinhua
• At the local level, villagers in Huang Peng and Chisong also competed with one another and argued that their village was the authentic village of Wong Tai Sin's origin
• In addition, Chisong villagers claimed that Wong Tai Sin became a saint in Chisong County for two reasons. First, Wong Tai Sin was also known as Chisong Chi (literally meaning Chisong's son) which was interpreted by the villagers to refer to Chisong County
•  Second, Chisong literally means red pine, which is still found widely in the county
• Villagers claim that the pine trees turned red when Wong Tai Sin was transformed from an ordinary man to a saint
• To settle the controversy over Wong Tai Sin's place of origin, in September 1995, the deputy mayor made the statement, "Wong Tai Sin was born in Lanxi, became a saint in Jinhua city, and became popular in Hong Kong
• While many local Jinhua villagers and Hong Kong pilgrims celebrate Wong Tai Sin through religios worship, many cadres and officials in Jinhua have also downplayed the religious aspect of tese temples to highlight their secular appeal
• In addition, the portrayal of Jinhua Guan, Wong Tai Sin Zugong, Chisong Gong, and Chisong Daoyuan as attractions for domestic and international tourists has to do with their geographic location
• The symbol of Wong Tai Sin is appropriated by Jinhua officials and locals to serve the new dominant ideology in the PRC: market reform, consumerism, and economic development
• The revival and invention of the Wong Tai Sin heritage meet the objective of the state in promoting religious heritage for the public's good, and more specifically for economic development and the modernization of the PRC 
• Two strategies are used to popularize Wong Tai Sin temples and to attract domestic and international pilgrims and tourists
• Engaging in charitable activities, less to promote Wong Tai Sin Temple than to stress the saint's spirit of helping people, is a second strategy to popularize Wong Tai Sin
• Among all the Wong Tai Sin temples in Jinhua, Chisong Daoyuan has been the most successful in attracting visitors by doing charitable work for locals
• Chisong Daoyuan was designed not merely as a traditional temple but also as a resort area
• Religious activities such as palm-reading, fortune-telling, as well as leisure activities such as tea-drinking, outdoor meals, picnics, and hiking take place there
• Today, many Jinhua people visit to enjoy sightseeing, and use the place more as a public park than as a temple
• These visitors know that Wong Tai Sin is a native and famous in Hong Kong
• The short history of this temple does not bother the regular worshipers
• Worshipers who were interviewed emphasized the fact that Wong Tai Sin was popular in Hong Kong but had now returned home to Chisong
• On one hand, Wong Tai Sin temples are meant for worship, display and sightseeing
• On the other hand, Wong Tai Sin temples, like many other tourist sites, "contain a discourse of nationalism, allowing hegemonic cultural producers to project their values of national identity and national inclusivity"
• The importance of Wong Tai Sin has to do with his special status overseas and the attitudes of the cadres in Jinhua
• The aim of reunification as embedded in the promotion of religious practices was particularly significant in the case of Chisong Daoyuan because the Hong Kong investor in the temple has been bringing a steady stream of Taiwan investors to the PRC
• The rapid movement of people, capital, culture, and information in the era of transnationalism and globalization as facilitated closer ties between Chinese in mainland China and those living overseas
• Through the reconstruction of Wong Tai Sin temples and reinvention of cultural heritage, different connections between locals and overseas Chinese were further established, giving opportunities for both locals and overseas Chinese to meet two seemingly conflicting objectives, tradition and modernity
• Constructing temples as heritage sites reveals the changing relationship between the Chinese who live in modern cities and those who live in rural peripheries
• On one hand, Wong Tai Sin was revived as a religion by following the practices of Hong Kong pilgrims assisted by local villagers
• On the other hand, the local villagers and cadres developed the temples for economic development and tourism 
• Furthermore, the meanings of Wong Tai Sin temples and their heritage are continuously worked and reworked within and beyond the nation 
• The increased contact between the overseas Chinese and those in the homeland has not diminished the power of the state
• In contrast, nation states have rather "taken up an active role in refashioning sovereignty to meet the challenges" of globalization
• In the case of Wong Tai Sin, a nation state has accommodated transnational identity through a reconfiguration of the meanings of heritage in a flexible wayy