The Four Great Gates

Name: The Four Great Gates
ISBN: 9787301184158

李慰祖 / 周星Peking University Press2011

4.0

Word count: 130K words
Chapters: 12
Series: History and Society: Classic Reprints
ISBN: 9787301184158

Report an error Find this book

Summary

"The Four Great Gates" refers to the four kinds of spirit-animal most widely worshipped in the North China countryside: the fox (Hu Gate), the weasel (Huang Gate), the hedgehog (Bai Gate), and the snake (Chang Gate, also called Liu Gate). They are neither gods nor ordinary beasts, but sprites believed by villagers to be on the path of cultivation. The core of this book is Li Weizu's 1941 undergraduate thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology at Yenching University. Drawing on long-term field interviews and participant observation in the villages northwest of Beiping (around Qianbajiacun near Tsinghua University), it records this belief system in full, using the villagers' own vocabulary. The book begins with the spirit-animals themselves: how the Four Great Gates came to be, the distinction between the profane and the sacred, between altar spirits and household spirits, methods of cultivation and taboos, and their relations with hunters, Christianity, temple deities, the Li Sect halls, and martial arts. It then turns to how villagers venerate the God of Wealth shrine, how household spirits ruin a family and how they are subdued. The central chapter concerns the incense heads, folk ritual specialists possessed by spirit-animals who mediate between humans and gods and heal the sick and expel evil for their neighbors. It details their initiation rites (acknowledging a master, installing the censer, installing the shrine, opening the crown), the equipment of the incense altar, the descent of the god and the shapes of incense smoke, healing and medicines, the pilgrimage rite, and the evolution of their standing and morality in the community. The book concludes with appendices: a transcript of a spirit-writing altar, a brief family record of Incense Head Li, a discussion of "wu and xi" (shamans), and an annotated bibliography, together with Zhou Xing's long essay "The Four Great Gates: A Folk Religion of North China," which re-evaluates this case within debates on animal worship, shamanism, and "folk religion." Long unpublished after its completion, the thesis nonetheless enjoys a high scholarly reputation, regarded as surpassing many later master's and doctoral dissertations.

Editor's review

这是一部“迟到了七十年”的经典。1941年，燕京大学社会学系学生李慰祖交出一篇关于北平西北郊乡民“四大门”信仰的学士论文，此后它只在学界内部口耳相传，被一代代民俗学、人类学研究者视为标杆，却始终未能公开出版；直到北京大学出版社将其收入“历史与社会·经典重刊”丛书，这篇论文才第一次以成书的形式与普通读者见面。它值得被认真对待的地方，首先在于方法：作者没有把民间信仰当作“迷信”一笔带过，而是住进村庄，用乡民自己的词——坛仙、家仙、拿法、香头、朝顶——去还原一个能自圆其说的信仰世界；其次在于视角：他没有停留于猎奇式的故事采集，而是追问这套信仰对农家生计、社区秩序、疾病治疗究竟“有什么用”。读罢你会发现，香头既是“被仙家拿住”的病人，也是对乡邻最有效的心理与生活顾问；仙家的道德训诫，其实是乡民自己理想的投影。周星的长篇补论补入了更早的史料和当代调查，使这个民国个案延伸到今天的田野。书中谈鬼说仙，讲的却始终是人。

Who it's for

A good fit for

民俗学、人类学、社会学专业的学生与研究者
对华北乡土社会与民间信仰史感兴趣的读者
喜欢《叫魂》《金枝》一类宗教与巫术研究的人
写作乡土题材、需要真实民俗细节的创作者

Not a good fit for

只想看灵异故事、追求惊悚刺激的读者
完全排斥学术体例、不愿读注释与附录的人
期待系统神学或宗教教义阐述的读者

Reading tips

先读绪论与“小结”，把握作者的问题意识与方法，再进入各章细部。
读“香头”一章时留意仪式细节背后的人际关系，那是全书最见功力的部分。
最后读周星的长篇补论，可与正文对照，体会七十年间研究视角的变化。
不必急于评判“迷信”与否，先尝试进入乡民自己的语汇与逻辑。

About the publisher

Peking University Press China · Founded in 1979

Peking University Press is a comprehensive university press whose publishing areas cover classical literature, popular science, social culture, world history, Western philosophy, and culture. Its catalogue contains 6,031 titles, with representative books including A Dream of Red Mansions, Relativity: The Special and General Theory (15th Edition) (with Einstein's classic papers on unified field theory and other topics), Elements, Conics, The Aristocratic Families of the Eastern Jin, The Philosophy of Mythology (Volume I), The Philosophy of Mythology (Volume II), and The Origin of Continents and Oceans. Representative authors include Cao Xueqin, Zhou Ruchang, Albert Einstein, Euclid, Apollonius, Tian Yuqing, Schelling, and Xian Gang. The press has developed distinctive strengths in classical Chinese literature and in the translation of Western philosophical classics, while also covering scientific classics and social and cultural studies. As public information is limited, this description is based only on the books in the catalogue and offers no further extrapolation.

Introduction: Viewpoint, Methodology, and Problems
Chapter One: Origins of the Four Great Gates: The Profane and the Sacred, Altar Spirits and Household Spirits, the Four Great Gates and Hunters, General Characteristics of the Sacred Four Great Gates, Methods of Cultivation
Chapter Two: The Four Great Gates and the Farm Family: The God of Wealth, Household Spirits Ruining the Family, Subduing the Household Spirits
Chapter Three: Characteristics of the Four Great Gates: Dwellings and Life of the Spirit-Animals, Division of Labor and Hierarchy among Altar Spirits, Temperament of the Spirit-Animals, Taboos of the Spirit-Animals, Enemies of the Spirit-Animals, Aberrant Altar Spirits, the Four Great Gates and Christianity, the Four Great Gates and Temple Deities, Tales of the Four Great Gates: Legends and Chapbook Lore, the Four Great Gates and the Li Sect Halls, the Four Great Gates and Martial Arts
Chapter Four: Incense Heads: Meaning and Origins, the Family-Protection Altar, Completion Rites (Acknowledging a Master, Installing the Censer, Installing the Shrine, Opening the Crown), Mutual Etiquette and Funeral Rites, Altar Equipment, Statues and Myths, the Descent of the God and the Shapes of Incense Smoke, Healing and Medicines, Private Rites for the Altar God, Periodic Rites and the Pilgrimage, Community Duties, Villagers' Offerings, Status and Its Changes, Morality, Social Relations among Incense Heads
Chapter Five: The God of Wealth Shrine: The Center of Farm Family Worship (Meaning and Function, Structure and Cult, Construction Rites)
Summary
Appendix One: Transcript of a Spirit-Writing Altar
Appendix Two: A Brief Family Record of Incense Head Li
Appendix Three: On "Wu and Xi" (Shamans)
Appendix Four: Annotated Bibliography
Zhou Xing, "The Four Great Gates: A Folk Religion of North China"

FAQ

“四大门”具体指哪四种动物？

指狐狸（胡门）、黄鼠狼（黄门）、刺猬（白门）和蛇（常门，亦称柳门）。在华北乡民观念中，它们并非神明，而是处在修炼过程中的灵异动物，既可作祟也能护佑人家。

这本书是一部学术专著吗？

它的主体是李慰祖1941年在燕京大学社会学系完成的学士学位论文，属严格的田野调查与功能分析；书末另有周星的长篇研究论文作为补编，两部分体例不同但互相补充。

“香头”是什么人？

香头是被仙家附身、能沟通人神、替乡邻治病除祟的民间仪式执行者。书中详述其成因、认师开顶等成巫典礼、香坛设备、下神与治病方式，以及其在社区中地位与道德的变迁。

书里有没有收录民间故事？

有。第三章第九节“四大门的故事：传说与稗话”整理了大量地方传说；附录还收有乩坛实录、李香头家庭事闻记略等一手田野材料，可当作故事读，也可当作资料用。

这本书适合当作民俗入门读物吗？

比较适合作为专题入门：篇幅不长、个案集中、文字朴实，但要有一点人类学或社会学的阅读习惯会更顺畅。若完全没有相关背景，可先读绪论和结论，再回看中间章节。

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

李慰祖 Author

Li Weizu is an author about whom limited public information is available; little can be confirmed about his life, nationality, or dates of birth and death. One work by him is included in the collection, Four Great Gates (History and Society: Classic Reprint), which is classified under culture. Judging from the title and category, the book deals with folk beliefs and local social history and appears to be a work of scholarly compilation. Because biographical material is lacking, it is difficult to describe his career or his writing in full, but his work seems to emphasize the organization of historical sources and observation of social culture, focusing on the forms taken by folk traditions in specific historical contexts. The reissue of Four Great Gates as a "classic reprint" suggests that the content has some reference value in the relevant field of study and may be of interest to readers concerned with folk culture and social history.

周星 Author

Zhou Xing is an author about whom limited public information is available; the library currently holds only one work by this author, The Logic of Rural Life: Folklore Studies from an Anthropological Perspective, published in the Weiming Social Science Essence series. This representative work shows that Zhou Xing is concerned with Chinese rural society and folk culture, seeking to examine the inner logic of everyday life through an anthropological lens and to combine fieldwork with the analysis of folklore phenomena. The writing blends documentary literature with scholarly essay, emphasizing concrete details of daily life and discussing the relationship between customs, rituals, and local society, thereby offering readers an anthropological window into how grassroots society operates. Since information such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and educational background cannot be confirmed, only the subject matter and writing orientation of the work are briefly introduced here; other biographical details await further public sources.