Celebration of Scholars
Religious Spatial and Temporal Development Patterns across Core and Periphery Counties in Qing-period Sichuan: A Preliminary Analysis Part 2
Name:
Rachel Ho
Major: Asian Studies
Hometown: Kenosha
Faculty Sponsor:
Stephen Udry
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE
Abstract
For my Summer Undergraduate Research Experience, I worked
under the supervision of Professor Stephen Udry in a spatial analysis of temple building and
reconstruction across a few core and periphery counties within Sichuan
Province, China from the Ming(1368-1644) up to the early 20th Century. The goal
of the ongoing study is to determine and identify particular trends in
religious concerns and popularity of deities over a wide area and large span of
time. William Skinner’s division of China into nine macro-regions based on economic
ties has been accepted as a valid framework for examining China. The
macro-region schema divides these regions into economic cores and peripheries,
based on analysis of market patterns on the local level. This schema provides
the basis for the spatial analysis of this project. This first stage is a
temporal analysis across two counties. We have chosen to represent this data in
a series of graphs and charts to observe any temporal correlations across these
two counties. Using the data I compiled and translated from Republican-era
editions of Sichuan county gazetteers, Professor Udry will create maps using
geographic information software, matching the compiled data to immigration and
population growth patterns as well as rough economic data to highlight religious
trends. Geographic data, chronological data and nomenclature was collected from
gazetteers from two counties, translated as necessary and sorted in an excel
spreadsheet.