a cure. He was born in Anhui province during the latter part of the seventeenth century and was a kind and upright junior official. He was regarded as a local sage and much respected. Particularly skilled at medicine, he saved countless lives, and one year he successfully mediated between two fighting factions. He died in his bed and proved so popular that within a few years an image of him was carved and placed on a local altar. In 1714 a devotee from Hsing-an prefecture in Fukien province emigrated to Taiwan and brought the cult with him, building a shrine in his honour in Taiwan. Much later, a scholar from Taipei, visiting Tainan, the local capital, to sit his first examination, passed the shrine and knelt before the deity promising that if he were successful in his examination he would set up a similar altar in Taipei. He was successful and did as he had promised. Much later, when the cult had grown much larger, a temple was built in Taipei where the image of Hsin Ting now stands.
The third case of deification of a charismatic worthy is Ch'en Chang, born in Yunlin in central Taiwan during the reign of the Ch'ien Lung emperor. He was a noted philanthropist in the town of Tsao-t'un in Nantou county where he moved later in life. He did numerous good deeds and was greatly respected. His good works, however, annoyed a local petty tyrant who had Ch'en convicted on a trumped-up charge and imprisoned. Ch'en died in gaol. The locals mourned his death and built a shrine in his honour in which they first placed his tablet (later to be replaced by a standard image with no special identifying characteristics). His title then became General Ch'en despite the fact that he had never served in the army nor had he ever fought in any battle. He became the local protective deity with an annual festival on the 15th of the first lunar month.
Cults of the Deified Spirits of Insignificant People
The following are examples of legends and cults connected with ordinary people. Cults of twelve deceased very ordinary people have been chosen at random from the hundreds of such stories available. They highlight how their cults, some preserved by oral tradition and others with their histories now long forgotten, evolved.
A young man in his early twenties was killed in a now forgotten accident near Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. He was buried on the spot and, because he had been a brave settler, his family, the Ts'ais,
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