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KEITH STEVENS
of insufficient fire wood, he stuck his foot in the stove, and the flame shot up cooking the food in but a few moments. The second is no less than Li T'ieh Kuai (*), one of the Eight Immortals. One of the stories told about him is that, when he was young and very poor, his mother ordered him to go into the hills every day to collect wood but he was never able to collect more than sufficient for one day. When it rained they had none. His aunt cursed him and said they would use his legs as fuel. Now Li T'ieh Kuai had learnt some tricks from the Immortals in the hills and stuck his foot into the fire which blazed up much more brightly. His aunt shouted that she was only joking and pulled his foot from the fire. Because of this the bottom part of his leg fell off and became poisoned. The story ends by his aunt using the burnt-off leg to bank up the cinders!
Conclusion
Although this Fukienese local deity is mostly to be seen, as is to be expected, in those areas of Taiwan and South East Asia where Fukienese immigrants from An Ch'i, Ying Ch'üan and the immediate surrounding areas are to be found, he is also to be found in Hainanese, Ch'aochow and Cantonese temples in South East Asia; where presumably this cult has been adopted by the other immigrant groups who wished to take advantage of his power.
Tai Pao(*)
One image likely to be confused with Fa Chu Kung is Tai Pao. Tai Pao is the monk Sha (*) who usually wears a necklet or waistband of skulls, but in many temples these have been lost and the black, unkempt figure of Tai Pao at first glance can easily be confused with Fa Chu Kung.
THE CULT OF THE EUNUCH ADMIRAL CHENG HO
A deified hero and a Taoist Saint
Background
The intercourse between China and the West under the widespread rule of the Mongols lapsed with their withdrawal into Central Asia. The Ming dynasty emperor Yung Lo made great efforts to re-open trade routes and to expand the much diminished foreign trade by despatching between the years 1405 and 1431 A.D. seven major expeditions to the Southern Seas, commanded by eunuchs