The folk deduction on an antagonistic symbol: A research of symbolic anthropology on the Late Qing anti-christian paintings Jinzunshengyu Bixie Quantu

This article analyses the great tension between the Christian faith and native consciousness as well as its anthropological root. This is done through the analysis of the demonization of the image of Christ in the Anti-Christian paintings Jinzunshengyu Bixie Quantu in late Qing dynasty. When the Christian faith was being preached in the countryside and when the church appeared as a somewhat antagonistic symbol against the ancestral shrines in the countryside, the way of life of the rural cultural and local squires was enormously challenged: Ancestral shrine or the church? This implies that there was a profound conflict within the symbolic field. In this conflict, chastity and filial piety are not only ethic ideas, but also power. Through the demonization of the image of Christ, the squires sought to clarify that there was no place for the symbol of Jesus Christ in the countryside. However, ironically, their effort attested to the presence of the sacrificial love (of the cross) in the country life as a new native symbol.