研究表明,從新石器時代以來,生活在浙江地區的人們在認知環境、認識自我以及謀求生存與發展的過程中創造了豐富多彩的民間信仰。這些信仰,不僅在其生產、生活和組織中發揮著重要作用,而且隨著社會的發展而處於不斷的變遷中。其變遷的過程既充分反映了這一地區經濟社會以及文化的發展狀況,還與中國社會整個歷史變遷以及人口遷徙、文化碰撞與交融的過程緊密相連,更與歷代統治者的信仰及政策取向、治理舉措息息相關。綜觀歷代封建王朝對浙江地區民間信仰的控制舉措,民間信仰的禁而不絕,一方面與無常的自然災異有關,更與專制社會緊張的社會關系和統治者的價值取向有關。其對民間信仰實施社會控制的本質,是以一種新的更具"主流價值"滲透力的社會控制形式取代舊有的鬆散無效的社會控制形式,旨在尋求不斷鞏固王權合法性和權威性的更廣泛的社會信仰基礎。

The research shows that since the Neolithic Age,the people living in Zhejiang province have created rich and colorful folk beliefs in the process of understanding the environment,enhancing self- awareness and seeking the means of survival and development. These beliefs not only play an important role in their production,life,and organization,but also are in constant changes,following the development of the society. The process of their transformation not only fully reflects the socio- economic and cultural situations in this region,but also mirrors the entire historical changes of Chinese society,including the population,the migration and the process of cultural collisions and fusion,as well as all the beliefs,policy orientations and administrative means of the previous rulers. Though the previous feudal dynasties tried to control or forbid the folk beliefs in Zhejiang,these beliefs remained alive due to the unpredictable natural disasters on the one hand and the tense social relations of the authoritarian society and the rulers’ value orientation on the other. The nature of such control aimed to replace the existing loose and ineffective form of social control with a new form of the mainstream value penetration,and to lay a broader and sounder social basis for the legitimacy and authority of the feudal kingdom.