本文討論以中元祭儀為主要年度行事的新竹城隍廟,自19世紀中葉起成為地方重要政治象徵及活動場域的歷史。由新竹城隍廟祭儀之歷史來看,不難發現自建廟百餘年後的1850年代起,民眾參與增加及地方士紳藉以號召的痕跡。這一變化的社會脈絡,是在地方不安和戴潮春事件等影響下,地方重要士紳家族在地方武裝化的氛圍下用以動員的一種表現。但光是地方大事或經濟發展,並不足以解釋為何是城隍廟,而非其它受歡迎廟宇。地方社會至19世紀中期的發展,及重要士紳間建構影響力的方式,讓他們以新竹城隍在地方行政體系代表的正統性為訴求,也就是運用新竹本地社會發展脈絡,產生地方獨有的認同,並隨着此地政治與經濟地位在19世紀末日益邊緣化而愈發顯著。城隍廟中元祭儀發展的歷史,是清代國家符碼化影響地方社會長期以來形塑地方認同的一個例證。
The Temple of City God in Hsinchu, famous for its annual rituals for ghost festival, since the 1850s experienced a transition from an official temple to a popular temple. The historical change in its rituals reflects active participation from the local people and gentry families in the context of the growth of the local economy, a rise of regional militarization, and a resulting phenomenon of social mobilization. Yet, the development did not occur with a gradual departure from state authority. Quite the contrary, the local elite continued to utilize the orthodoxy and official control that the City God could exert from old times to promote the City God as a symbol of Hsinchu to this date. The gradual marginalization of Hsinchu in its dwindling of the administrative sphere, and its decreasing political and economic significance overshadowed by Taipei in the last decades of the nineteenth century, led to the growth of a local identity exclusively to people of Hsinchu.