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Laoshi Gong has a unique image. He is portrayed as a general sitting on a folding camp stool, in the process of drawing his sword from its scabbard with his right hand. The sword is partially withdrawn from its scabbard which is hanging on his left side and clasped by the left hand. His helmet has a large pointed spike on top [like the German pickelhaube], and he has four flags protruding from the rack in which they are secured across his back, above his shoulders indicating his rank. The camp stool is an interesting feature. It is a typical folding stool, with a full tiger skin carefully arranged, draped over the back of the stool, the whole image and stool with skin being carved from one block.
Lin Fu Taishi Gong, is usually simply referred to as Taishi Gong or Taishi Ye. He is a minor deity in two temples, one in the Hainanese temple, off Balestier Road in Singapore where he was referred to as Lin Fu Xiangye, Prime Minister Lin, with his annual festival celebrated on the double eighth. The other is a Hokkien temple in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, where he is a minor deity having been placed there by members of the small Hainanese community. He is also known in Ampang as Marshal Lin, Lin Fu Yuanshuai or Lin Fu Dashi, and, during the annual festival of the major Hokkien deity Nine Emperors, is represented by his incense urn when carried in procession with three other deities. They are all accompanied by spirit mediums who are possessed by these deities, including Lin Fu Dashi. In both of these temples he is renowned for his ability to cure [internal] diseases and, especially in Ampang, he is also prayed to for wealth and good business. Temple custodians identified the deity as one of their clan ancestors, Lin Xiyuan who, according to biographies, was born in Fujian during the Ming, and died in about AD 1561. He became an official who argued long and hard against the power of the palace eunuchs, and was renowned for the help he provided to the populace during a major famine. Amongst his many achievements were his successes in the field of education in Guangdong province, and the use of a military force to destroy a band of robbers. He is also claimed to have pacified a number of outlaws. During the troubles in Annam he organised a pacification force, built up an intelligence network only to find that he was not required to act, either by the emperor or by the situation. He was dismissed, accused of usurping his authority and returned to his home where he wrote poetry and Confucian dissertations. He studied for many years and wrote source books for
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