In essence, it is not accidental that there is a mixture of big traditions and small traditions in the development of Mazu belief, but it is precisely a reflection of the social relationship between the state and South China after the Song and Yuan Dynasties projected to folk religions. The myth of Mazu originated in Fujian in the Northern Song Dynasty, which was an important turning point for Fujian's marine economy to rise and its social culture to prosper. The connection between Mazu myth and this emerging economic form can be faintly seen in all kinds of legends at the beginning of its appearance, and its subsequent spread is closely related to the sea. Whether it was the earliest fishermen, boatmen and maritime merchants who worshipped Mazu or the feudal court which was repeatedly sealed, Mazu's protective function for maritime navigation was a core content of their belief, especially those fishermen and maritime merchants who engaged in marine economic activities were almost inseparable from Mazu's devotion, and they spread Mazu's belief wherever their footprints went, which became the most powerful promotion of Mazu's belief. Moreover, in the process of marine economic development, Mazu belief has also played an inspiring and cohesive role. In many places, Mazu Tempel has become a place for businessmen to discuss and trade, and Mazu belief has become the spiritual bond of the pioneers of marine economy. Therefore, in a certain sense, it can be said that Mazu belief is a symbol of ancient marine culture in China (Note 21. The relationship between * * * enjoyment and contradiction between the state and the people embodied in the evolution of Mazu myth actually implies the * * * enjoyment and competition between the state and society in marine economic interests, the most obvious of which is the mutual utilization and competition in overseas trade.
Take the ancient overseas trade in southern Fujian as an example. After the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Fujian's population increased substantially, its economy rose and its culture flourished, but at the same time, the problem of insufficient cultivated land in Fujian became increasingly obvious. "The land is narrow and the people are dense, and it is difficult to make a living, which is incomparable elsewhere." (Note 22, especially in Quanzhou, southern Fujian, since the Song Dynasty, it has been "a barren valley with dense people. Although it is desired, there is no land for cultivation." (Note 23) In addition, the mountains around Fujian are blocked, and the traffic is inconvenient, so it is called the secluded place of the sea and the border, which makes Fujian people have to "take the sea as a field" and "build a boat every year to reach a foreign land" (Note 24), and devote themselves to maritime trade. Mazu belief was born in this special local cultural, historical and geographical background. After the reunification of the Northern Song Dynasty, in order to increase fiscal revenue and improve political prestige, they basically adopted an attitude of encouragement and promotion to overseas trade, and took some measures to protect and stimulate overseas trade, such as Yuan You set up a shipping company in Quanzhou in the second year (187) to reward officials and businessmen who contributed to increasing the income of shipping companies, and so on, and used Quanzhou's booming private trade to collect huge profits from shipping companies and absorb overseas tributes. For the fledgling local maritime forces at that time, they also needed the protection of the state and created favorable conditions for their growth. The support of the state was undoubtedly the most effective catalyst for their development, which could promote the rapid development of Quanzhou's overseas trade. Therefore, Quanzhou maritime merchants in Song Dynasty often showed a submissive and dependent attitude towards the country, such as helping Song Ting to repair the professional tribute and trade relations with Korea and attracting foreign ships to trade with China. However, the rulers of the Song Dynasty attached importance to and encouraged overseas trade, the purpose of which was not to really care about the development of overseas trade, but to use overseas trade to serve the politics and economy of the feudal ruling regime. Therefore, from the Song Dynasty, the feudal regime strongly advocated that the policy of laissez-faire should not be adopted for overseas trade, and it must be brought into the national norms and placed under the strict control of the feudal state, that is, "the patent rights of cage Jia people should be returned to the public." (Note 25 Song Dynasty's thirteen imperial edicts against Mazu reflected the feudal regime's principled attitude towards overseas trade. On the one hand, it bestowed favor on Mazu to protect and promote its development; On the other hand, we should bring it into the national standard sacrifice code, and control the believers who are "incorporated" into Mazu's "subordinate"-the pioneers of marine economy, so that the country can enjoy the benefits with them. By the Yuan Dynasty, Quanzhou's overseas trade was extremely prosperous, and the power of Quanzhou's maritime merchants expanded rapidly. They monopolized the foreign trade along the coast and held the local power along the coast. In order to compete with local powerful groups for foreign trade benefits, the Yuan government strengthened its monopoly on overseas trade. On the one hand, it further tightened the law of market shipping, repeatedly banned the sea, and cracked down on giant businessmen's power. On the other hand, it personally participated in overseas trade, directly sent huge caravans to travel overseas, and implemented a government-run overseas trade system. (Note 26 Mazu was promoted to the status of "Tian Fei" and was widely respected by the Yuan court, which happened under such a historical background. This move contains at least two metaphorical meanings: first, it enables Mazu to protect officials' overseas trade and sea and waterway transportation, and second, it marks that the state has strengthened its monopoly on marine economic interests. However, due to the policy of opening to the outside world in the Yuan Dynasty, the business atmosphere was very prosperous, and the Yuan court basically held a protective attitude towards the market trade, which enabled the market trade to continue to develop, which was reflected in the belief in Mazu that the government and the people enjoyed the function of Mazu as a sea escort. In order to curb the maritime armed forces and maintain the stability of the dynasty's rule, the Ming and Qing Dynasties imposed a maritime ban for a long time, prohibiting private trade in the sea, thus making tribute trade almost the only form of overseas trade, and legal overseas trade was completely monopolized by the state. Nevertheless, the marine economic forces that the people have grown up did not give up their original maritime interests because of the state's prohibition and monopoly. Although they were forced by the state to turn this business activity underground and appeared as smuggling trade, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the maritime private business forces relying on coastal society always existed and constantly competed with the feudal government for maritime economic interests. (Note 27 Because of this, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the understanding of Mazu's symbolic meaning between the state and the people showed an obvious alienation tendency. The state regards Mazu as the god of national security and protection, and has become a symbol of the state's authority and local control. On the contrary, the people, especially in the southeast coastal areas, have further strengthened the local characteristics of Mazu, making it develop into a symbol of local culture on the basis of maintaining the original symbol of marine culture.
IV. Conclusion
Myth is a part of culture, which is rooted in the culture that happened, closely linked with other parts of cultural life, and constantly deduces its own history with the development and changes of culture. Mazu myth originated in Fujian's border society with strong marine flavor, which represents the unique cultural concept of attaching importance to commerce and seeking profits and making a living by jumping into the sea along the southeast coast of Fujian. Its prototype is China's marine economy and culture, which has been suppressed in a small tradition for a long time and can not get free development space. The evolution of Mazu myth and its blending and contradiction with the great tradition actually reflect the history of the struggle, development and even variation of marine economy and culture under the heavy clothing of agricultural economy and culture, and it is an exhibition of the contradictory struggle between Fujian local society and the state. The national mainstream ideology's different understanding of marine economy and culture in different times and the constant interaction and exchange between Fujian local society and the central dynasty of the country have made the interpretation of Mazu belief and its symbolic meaning go through a dynamic development process, which made it penetrate into the grand tradition from the small tradition, and at the same time, it was absorbed by the grand tradition and given new meaning. Finally, its original meaning was stripped back to the small tradition, resulting in the dual structure system of Mazu belief.