Some Aspects of Chinese Religious Practices and Customs in Singapore and Malaysia

Tadao Sakai

doi:10.1017/S0022463400005038

Some Aspects of Chinese Religious Practices and Customs in Singapore and Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2009

Tadao Sakai

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This paper is a summary of my recent studies on the Taoist creed and common Chinese religious beliefs, in particular the religious customs of poeh (the practice of seeking divination) and the worship of the local god of the soil. While a number of papers have been published by scholars from the Singapore-Malaysia region, their findings have been somewhat limited in scope because they were confined to the Southeast Asian context. My study will be broader in scope. It will cover the relationship between the Chinese culture of China itself and that of Southeast Asia. In other words, this paper will give (1) a comparison between the cultural styles of North China, South, and Central China, (2) a study of Chinese culture in Southeast Asia viewed as an extension of the culture of South China, especially the provinces of Fukien and Kwangtung, and (3) a summary of my research on the conflict between Chinese culture in China on the one hand and that of the Singapore-Malaysia region on the other.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 1981 , pp. 133 - 141

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463400005038 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1981

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References

* I am grateful to the Japanese Ministry of Education for giving me an opportunity in 1979 to undertake fieldwork on Chinese religion in Singapore and Malaysia. I would also like to thank the following: Prof. Sung Ming-shun , Mr Wu Wah , Prof Tay Lian-soo , Mr Lieu Ko-yin , Mr Wen Tze-ch'üan , Mr Wong Yao , Mr Chong Kian-tong , and Dr Gwee Yee-hean .

¹ A number of scholarly research articles on Kong, Tuah Peh (Ta-po-kung) are found in the Journal of the South Seas Society (JSS) () 1, pt. 2(12 1940)Google Scholar; 7, pt. 2(Dec. 1951)() (),8, pt. 2 (Dec. 1952) () () () (); in the Journal of Asian Art, Inaugural issue, Nanyang University, Singapoge, 06 1972Google Scholar () () and in Collected Essays on Taoist Thought and Cuiture, Honouring Dr Yoshioka Yoshitoyo , 1977, Tokyo (Harada Masami , “Some Popular Beliefs of the Chinese in Malaysia”, Chugoku Minkan Shinko no Ichimen). See also Nan-yang wen-chai , 2, no. 2 (Feb. 1961); 2, no. 7 (July 1961) and 4, no. 1 (Jan. 1963).

² Kai-yüts'ung-k'ao [ ], ch. 30 ().

³ In a footnote added to the section (at the autumn festival of Shê , people ask for the will of the deity by using Chiao ) of Ching-ch 'u sui-shih chi , it is explained that “Chiao , means command. Sometimes the character is used instead of ”. Since the pronounciation of , is quite similar to that of , it is assumed that this explanation is correct.

⁴ A verse of a poem by Han Yü , “ ” (a poem commemorating a visit to Heng-yüen miao): “Hold a wine cup and let it throw.”

⁵ Tetsuji, Morohashi Dai Kanwa Jiten vol. 7, p. 906Google Scholar.

⁶ Tao-fa hui-yüan Tao-ts'ang, bks. 884–941Google Scholar.

⁷ Yüeh-yü, Lin “ ” [Deities of Mei county], in Kuang-tung feng-su chui-lu Google Scholar.

⁸ Ch'ing Shui , [On old rules of giving names in Shao-chün].

⁹ Tsung-i, Jao, “On Pükong,” JSS 8, pt. 2(12 1952)Google Scholar.

¹⁰ Liu Chih-wan , [ ], (Buddhist-laoist temples in Taiwan of Ch'ing dynasty) ([ ] 4,5,6, 1963); Seiichiro, Suzuki, Kan Kon So Sai to Nenchu Gyoji [ ],(Taipei, 1934), p. 341Google Scholar.