2021-12-28

當信仰超越族群:1907年吉隆坡仙四師爺宮廟產訴訟案與當地華人權力結構的轉變

黃佩雯。〈當信仰超越族群:1907年吉隆坡仙四師爺宮廟產訴訟案與當地華人權力結構的轉變〉。《民俗曲藝》214(2021.12): 149-95

Ng Pui Bun. “When Religion Transcends Ethnicity: A Temple Property Dispute and the Transformation of Overseas Chinese Power Structures in Kuala Lumpury.” Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore 214(2021.12): 149-95.

 

Abstract

 

位於吉隆坡市中心的仙四師爺宮乃當地華人社群中最早出現的廟宇之一。十九世紀中葉雪蘭莪內戰 (1867–1873) 結束後,在代表惠州客家移民勢力的華人甲必丹葉亞來的倡議下,廟宇始建於1881年。本文試從1907年仙四師爺宮廟產訴訟案的判決入手,探討十九世紀末至二十世紀初,吉隆坡華人權力結構的轉變。此案肇因於原告葉亞來 (1837–1885) 後人對於廟宇管理權和廟產處理權歸屬的不滿。通過對案件原委的分析,本文擬探究勝訴與敗訴雙方各自代表的新舊勢力交替。訴訟的判決規定由十二位不同籍貫代表組成一個受託組織。依其章程為廣府三位、惠州三位,福建、大埔、海南、潮州、廣西和嘉應各一位。據此,本文進一步探究這種跨祖籍群與跨方言群的受託成員配額如何呈現出吉隆坡華人權力結構的轉變。為了說明上述權力結構變遷的歷史意義,本文將探討英方的“trustee”概念在訴訟案中如何被華方運用,使之與「受託人」概念對應,從而影響了當地華人寺廟的管理形式。

The Sin Si Sze Ya Temple (仙四師爺宮) in Kuala Lumpur was one of the first sacred sites founded by that city’s Overseas Chinese community. It was built after the end of the Selangor War (1867–1873) in 1881 under the leadership of the Chinese Kapitan Yap Ah Loy葉亞來 (1837–1885), who represented Hakka immigrants from Huizhou 惠州. This article focuses on a dispute over the Sin Si Sze Ya Temple’s property that occurred in 1907 in order to examine transformations in the power structures of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinese community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The dispute involved a lawsuit in which the plaintiffs, who were Yap Ah Loy’s heirs, claimed hereditary rights to the temple and its property. By analyzing the causes of this dispute, as well as its resolution, this article reveals how the winning and losing parties represented a transition from an old power structure to a new one. This can be seen in the court’s judgement to require the formation of a new management system of twelve representatives from different Chinese native places serving as temple trustees (受託人), including three representatives from Canton (廣府), three representatives from Huizhou, and one representative each from Fujian 福建, Dapu 大埔, Hainan 海南, Chaozhou 潮州, Guangxi 廣西 and Jiayingzhou 嘉應州. In addition, this article considers the significance of this new trustee system, whose members crossed both native place and dialect group boundaries, as one manifestation of changing Chinese communal power structures in Kuala Lumpur. In order to clarify the historical import of these transformations, this article will explore how Chinese elites used the English legal term “trustee” as an equivalent of Chinese term 受託人, and how this usage shaped management systems for other local temples.