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Water sprites and ancestor spirits: reading the architecture of Jinci
Art Bulletin, The, March, 2004 by Tracy G. Miller
Finally, the style of the building's bracketing is not consistent with that of the tenth and early eleventh centuries in the region of southern Shanxi but, rather, is closer to structures in this area from the end of the eleventh century. (56) According to Yun Shan, a severe earthquake in 1038 caused serious destruction in the Taiyuan region. (57) If Yi Gou is correct and the Gentlewoman Shrine was rebuilt (fujian) after the Tiansheng period, the present Sage Mother Hall was probably constructed on an older foundation of a temple dedicated to the Jin Springs water spirit after the 1038 earthquake. We can say with relative certainty that the remains of the hall are from 1038-1102, but, given that the dragons around the columns survived the 1102 earthquake, a closer range would place the construction of the present building between 1038 and 1087. (58)
The pattern of the Sage Mother's promotion during this period suggests that local people identified her as a powerful provider of rain and, in addition to rebuilding and enhancing the Sage Mother Hall, petitioned the central government to give her title increases so that she would continue acting on their behalf. In Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276, Valerie Hansen describes a dramatic increase in the official granting of titles to popular deities in the Song beginning in 1075. At this time divinities proven to have worked miracles were registered with the government and included in official sacrifices to be undertaken by a local official biannually, in the spring and autumn. This was a bottom-up rather than a top-down process, as documentation of miracles depended on local officials to investigate and verify miraculous events related to them by their constituencies. (59)
According to Hansen, the increase in title granting to popular divinities during the 1070s resulted from the implementation of the New Policies of Wang Anshi, which were aimed at reorganizing and strengthening systems of local authority. (60) Although titles had been granted to divinities from as early as the Qin dynasty, the practice was relatively limited. Early Northern Song rulers followed the tradition and extended it to popular spirits in the eleventh century, beginning with edicts in 1047 ordering popular temples (miao) to be repaired across the empire and then, after a drought in 1050, requesting that the names of all spirits who brought rain be reported to the government. But prior to 1075 few titles were granted because it was difficult to gather information about miracles and the deities responsible for them from local authorities. Another edict was issued on December 16, 1074, after a serious drought in north China earlier in the year, requesting the names of deities in shrines and temples (cimiao) known to respond efficaciously to requests for rain. By this time the New Policies were fully in place, and the central government received a large number of names; in 1075 alone thirty-seven deities were granted official titles. (61) Title granting continued at this high level at the end of the eleventh century and into the twelfth, when the New Policies were first dismantled in 1086 and then revived in 1094 due to a power shift at court. (62)
