This paper focuses first on a series of reformations made by T'ang Pin (1627-1687) on the social customs of Chiang-su province, as the background against which to study the connection between the policy of custom reform and the ban on the Wu-t'ung cult. Then we try to probe into the causes of the interdiction of the worship of Wu-t'ung and its process through an analysis of the association between the Wu-t'ung cult and its context—the local society of Chiang-nan. In the last section of the essay, we discuss the reaction of the gentry to the ban on the Wu-t'ung cult and its consequences. Thought this case study, we may understand in concrete terms the process through which the political elite suppressed popular culture in early Ch'ing China. Although many factors contribute to the decline of the Wu-t'ung cult, yet, as evidenced by the demolition or alteration of local temples, related or unrelated to the cult in question, by regional governments, we should not ignore the crucial role played by the "state power". It is of interest that the banning of the Wu-t'ung cult did not cause fierce reactions among the common people. An explanation of this is that Wu-t'ung was commonly considered to be an evil god. The fact that T'anf Pin's suppression of the licentious cult was repeated by subsequent officials and supported by the intelligentsia has to do with the character of the measures he had adopted. He proceeded by resorting to symbolism, thus able to break down various taboos that had been passed on among the people generation after generation. One additional effect of this is that is strengthened the "historical memory" of the event of T'ang Pin's annihilation of the Wu-t'ung cult, thereby giving rise to an "apotheosis" of T'ang Pin by the populace. In sum, T'ang Pin's ban on the Wu-t'ung cult in the twenty-fourth year of K'ang-hsi's reign (1685) was not an isolated incident. Rather, it reflects how, in the context of the rise of Confucian ritualism, the central power, as represented by T'ang Pin, endeavored to highlight the conflict between the Wu-t'ung cult and the orthodox Confucian cult of etiquette and system and thereby to replace the licentious cult by such Confucian Gods as Kuan-ti, Wen-ch'an, and other ancient worthies. T'ang Pin's ban on the Wu-t'ung cult is historically significant in the fact that this was the first time the Ch'ing political elites repressed popular culture through the aid of an imperial decree.