張卓。〈「九州」內外：排瑤生命儀式中的中心與邊地觀〉。《民俗曲藝》230 (2025.12): 29–77。
Zhang Zhuo. “In and Beyond the ‘Nine Provinces’: Center and Periphery in Pai Yao Life-Cycle Rituals.” Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore 230 (2025.12): 29–77.
Abstract
在廣東省連南排瑤的信仰體系中，「九州」是一個重要的象徵符號，常以「過九州」的形式作為重要環節穿插於傳度、喪葬等大型生命儀式中。這種儀式環節以群體性繞行九州的形式演繹「黃帝九子鎮九州」的神話，並具有「九州（宮）八卦」的象徵意涵。經過對廣東省連南縣排瑤生命儀式與宗教手稿的兩次調查，本文將排瑤信仰、道教、梅山教中的「九州」意象進行比較研究，指出：排瑤「過九州」是排瑤信仰與道教、梅山教信仰深度融合的產物。通過對連南排瑤人宗教生活的參與觀察和對排瑤人的深入訪談，本文認為：排瑤社會將是否「過九州」作為社會分類的重要準繩之一，這也促使該群體為尋求積極的社會認同而維持挨旦堂「過九州」與喪禮再「過九州」的生命儀式傳統。「過九州」在排瑤生命儀式中的運用，是黃帝神話中帝國九州領域與族群間動盪征戰的隱喻，而儀式文本中排瑤對黃帝九子所進行的英雄化塑造，也呈現出身處九州邊緣的排瑤對帝國權威和中原主流文化的認同，也體現久居邊地的排瑤族群對中心與邊地的獨特理解。
In the religious system of the Pai Yao in Liannan
County, Guangdong Province, the concept of “Nine Provinces” (Jiuzhou 九州) functions as a central cosmological and ritual symbol. It
features prominently in major life-cycle ceremonies such as ordination and funerary
rites, most notably the segment known as “Crossing the Nine Provinces,” which
reenacts the myth of “the Yellow Emperor’s nine sons guarding the Nine
Provinces” and embodies cosmological meanings associated with the “Nine
Provinces (Palaces)” and “Eight Trigrams.”
Based on two rounds of fieldwork in Liannan,
including the observation of life-cycle rituals and the study of religious
manuscripts, this paper compares the imagery of the “Nine Provinces” in Pai Yao
beliefs, Daoism, and Meishan teachings, and argues that the Pai Yao “Crossing
the Nine Provinces” ritual is the result of profound religious syncretism among
these traditions. In addition, it draws on participant observation and in-depth
interviews to demonstrate that this ritual serves as a key classification
marker within Pai Yao society, helping to reinforce social identity through
ordination (ai dantang 挨旦堂) and funerary “Crossing
the Nine Provinces” ceremonies.
This paper also reveals that, symbolically, the “Nine Provinces” evoke imperial cosmology and the political geography of warfare among ethnic groups, while the ritual’s heroic portrayal of the Yellow Emperor’s nine sons reflects both the Pai Yao’s identification with imperial authority and their frontier reinterpretation of center-periphery relations within the Chinese cultural sphere.