Based on the materials obtained from field-work this dissertation makes a study on the cultural interaction between two linked villages in southern Jiangxi in different periods. By comparing prosperity and decline of two temples in the two villages in different periods, this study reveals the impact of the social change of the nation on folk life, and expects that it could provide a case study on how the country folk created dynamically the function of a temple. By reconstructing ethnographically the temple worship of one of the two villages, this paper analyzes the relations between the cultural change of the local temple and the daily life of country folks. It also points out that the creation of “Baishixian" (白石仙) belief was actually the result of the interaction between the great tradition and the little tradition through the local gentry as media, who ingeniously combined the folk type of the deity and local cultural resources and their understanding of orthodox tradition, and thus created an image of gods which satisfied the needs of both the local people and the orthodox tradition. The anthropomorphization of “Baishixian" brought great advantages to the lineage in the cultural competition within village or region. But most importantly, the institutionalization of miaohui (廟會) had increased the influence and power of the lineage in the village or regIon.
