Abstract

This article examines the ancestral belief system of fishermen in the Taihu Lake region through the worship of Xianfeng 先锋 (lit. “forerunner”). Existing studies of Taihu fishermen’s beliefs have primarily provided general descriptions of fishing communities, while the formation, transmission, social functions, and contemporary transformation of Xianfeng belief remain insufficiently examined. Drawing on textual analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, this article addresses this gap by exploring how Xianfeng belief has been sustained through the tradition of ritual specialists (Tangmen Taibao 堂门太保) and transformed from family-based ancestor worship into a community-wide protective practice through rituals such as incense pilgrimages and incense association rites. In doing so, it reconstructs the developmental trajectory of Xianfeng belief and provides a representative case for understanding the religious transformation of the rapidly disappearing fishing communities in the Taihu Lake region, while contributing to a broader discussion of religious change in China’s waterborne societies.

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