Divination-slip Drawing is an ancient and special part of Chinese culture. From the Divine-block Casting, Divination-slip Drawing, the story of the topic of the Divination Slips, the meaning of Divination Slips, to the fortune and misfortune of the Divination Slips, are very interesting and meaningful. That is the communication between the deities and followers. When believers are indecisive and helpless, the Divination Slips may give them the spiritual guidance and show them the direction of lives. Because of the long-standing culture of them, Divination Slips have various types, such as Guan-ti Divination Slips, Matsu Divination Slips, Guanyin Divination Slips, and Medicine Divination Slips. This thesis only discusses Guanyin Divination Slips, and it has five chapters: Chapter one is an introduction and it introduces how Chinese value it. For example, during the Chinese New Year, temples will draw the Divination Slips to foresee the luck of the new year for the nation. This chapter also tells the study achievement of Chinese and western scholars. Chapter two is about Guanyin belief and Chinese society. It mainly researches on the origin, sex, and relative sutra of Guanyin Bodhisattva, and its profound influence to Chinese society after its propagation to China. It presents the modern researches about Guanyin Bodhisattva as well. It also introduces Banqiao Jieyun Temple about its history, construction, horizontal inscribed boards, deities, and the influence to Banqiao citizen’s belief. Chapter three discusses the origin of Guanyin Divination Slips, such as its development, evolution, definition, composition, meaning, and vernacular explanation. It also states topic stories classified by history, drama, and literature, and their origins and vernacular explanation. The study shows all kinds of statistics of the one hundred Divination Slips as well. Chapter four explores Divination Slips and modern society. It includes Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist thoughts within topic stories of Divination Slips, and the influence of Divination Slips to modern people. Divination Slip may encourage people, educate the society, and guide the indecisive and helpless people. Chapter five is the conclusion. I conducted a thorough survey in a field study with a questionnaire specifically designed to get statistics about people's belief and feelings about divination slips, and whether they believe in the messages in the slips or not. The detailed survey shows the author’s expectation to fabricate the modern Divination Slips.
