Study on Shanxi Villages and Temples of Ming and Qing Dynasties——Taking the Prefecture of Zezhou in Shanxi as an Example

As the most important part of the traditional society, village is the joint of studying Ming and Qing dynasties.No temple, no villageis the basic characteristics of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in rural North china, so the village temple is the starting point of understanding Chinese ancient rural social development. This paper takes the Prefecture of Zezhou in Shanxi as an example and the inscriptions and village records which received from fieldwork as the basic historical data to research the development of villages in North China and its relationship with the temple. The author tries to put the physical existence of the temples in the villages over the time and space in order to know and reveal the complex relationship between the villages and historical development, space environment, community clan and natural resources.