THE FORMALIZATION AND INTENSIFICATION OF RITUALS: THE CULT OF “108 EFFICACY AND HEROIC MARTYRS” IN VIETNAM

Abstract

The worship of “108 Chiêu Ứng Anh Liệt (Efficacy and Heroic Martyrs)” of the Hainan Chinese had its primary form taken place long time ago in Hainan Island but was then standardized and formalized in Vietnam after one incident occurred on the central coast of the country. In 1851, a group of Hainanese merchants were unjustly killed offshore. In the same year, they were vindicated and ordained by King Tự Đức of the Nguyễn Vietnam. With imperial sanction, the worship easily transformed its sacred symbolisms, thus becoming a public cult and significant landmark of the Hainan Chinese communities in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. The cult followed the Hainanese merchants in spreading to Hainan Island of China. From the perspective of cultural studies, combined with historical research and fieldwork methods, the authors find out that this expansion is not spontaneous. Nonetheless, it contains the collective consciousness and rhetorical narratives of the Hainanese community. The worship of 108 Chiêu Ứng Anh Liệt has to a certain extent become a symbol of the “going-upstream spirit” of the community, which covers hidden cultural and political discourse in a cross-border context.