From Jingyou Palace to Zhenying Temple: The Creation and Evolution of the Ancestral Stories of Shi Clan of Susong County in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

In the disordered world at the end of Yuan Dynasty, Shi Liang assembled village militia and protected Susong where different forces fight fiercely. At the first year of Tianshun period of Ming Dynasty, Shi Chun borrowed the inscriptional record from Jingyou Palace (景祐宫) at Taihu Lake, and constructed a story of the original ancestor, who set up a temple to worship Zhang Xun and was further described as a leader of anti-Yuan army in the early period of Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, while Shi Songgong rebuilt successfully Zhenying Temple (振英祠) at county town. The creation and evolution of the stories between ancestors of Shi clan and the worship of Zhang Xun reflected a kind of cultural creation by elites of Shi clan, and also the evolutional track of Jianghuai societies during the different times.