CHINESE LOCAL SEMI-DIVINE DEITIES
75
KEITH G STEVENS
Deification in Chinese Folk Religion
It is hard to generalise about Chinese folk religion and beliefs and yet be sufficiently precise. Broadly speaking Chinese folk religion is a popular belief in a multitude of deities, with each community, be it province, city or village, having its own pantheon of deities. These include the spirits of both national and local worthies and heroes from recorded history in addition to the heavenly and nature deities revered China-wide.
There are a number of ways in which Chinese deities can be categorised ranging from the simplistic division into the deities who existed before the creation of the world and mankind and those who are deified humans, to more complex categories depending upon one's beliefs and viewpoint. I have found it easiest in practice to divide Chinese deities into six major categories consisting of:
1.
2.
3.
the mythological, usually called Heavenly deities;
nature spirits, the Gods of the Rain and Wind, of Trees and Streams, and of Mountains;
deified humans both legendary and real, frequently considered to be semi-divine:
4-6. and the deities of the three religions: Confucianism, Buddhism
and philosophical or institutional Taoism.
Two avenues to deification were open for humans: popular deification which evolved within the immediate community; and deification of deities whose cults received imperial or other official blessing. A number of the latter are deities of the former group whose growing popularity caused the cult to spread beyond the immediate locale and thus came to official notice and recognition.
We are particularly interested here in how humans have become local deities and will venture to distinguish between locally deified
CHINESE LOCAL SEMI-DIVINE DEITIES
75
KEITH G STEVENS
Deification in Chinese Folk Religion
It is hard to generalise about Chinese folk religion and beliefs and yet be sufficiently precise. Broadly speaking Chinese folk religion is a popular belief in a multitude of deities, with each community, be it province, city or village, having its own pantheon of deities. These include the spirits of both national and local worthies and heroes from recorded history in addition to the heavenly and nature deities revered China-wide.
There are a number of ways in which Chinese deities can be categorised ranging from the simplistic division into the deities who existed before the creation of the world and mankind and those who are deified humans, to more complex categories depending upon one's beliefs and viewpoint. I have found it easiest in practice to divide Chinese deities into six major categories consisting of:
1.
2.
3.
the mythological, usually called Heavenly deities;
nature spirits, the Gods of the Rain and Wind, of Trees and Streams, and of Mountains;
deified humans both legendary and real, frequently considered to be semi-divine:
4-6. and the deities of the three religions: Confucianism, Buddhism
and philosophical or institutional Taoism.
Two avenues to deification were open for humans: popular deification which evolved within the immediate community; and deification of deities whose cults received imperial or other official blessing. A number of the latter are deities of the former group whose growing popularity caused the cult to spread beyond the immediate locale and thus came to official notice and recognition.
We are particularly interested here in how humans have become local deities and will venture to distinguish between locally deified
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