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His neck and, uniquely, he has a pair of wings. Normally he is dressed only in a loin cloth or trousers down to just below his knees, and his skin is entirely blue or green. Occasionally, in place of the hammer and chisel he carries a gourd, and in a number of images he is depicted standing on a pair of drums.
His origins go far back, possibly to animist beginnings, though from the iconographical detail, half-man half-bird, his cult has been strongly influenced by the Garuda, the Hindu mythical being, the eagle who was Vishnu's steed, a concept brought to China by Buddhism. In earlier pictures and images he was portrayed more as a human with a cock's head and feet and with bat's wings. It was only later that he became more like the Garuda which several foreign writers of the 19th century certainly identified from his iconographical detail.
Lei Shen in the temple in the Western Hills is dark skinned, dressed in colourful robes over armour and with black spiky hair. He has no unique characteristics and is therefore unlikely to be accepted as the Thunder God by the majority of Chinese.
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his neck and, uniquely, he has a pair of wings. Normally he is dressed only in a loin cloth or trousers down to just below his knees, and his skin is entirely blue or green. Occasionally, in place of the hammer and chisel he carries a gourd, and in a number of images he is depicted standing on a pair of drums.
His origins go far back, possibly to animist beginnings, though from the iconographical detail, half-man half-bird, his cult has been strongly influenced by the Garuda, the Hindu mythical being, the eagle who was Vishnu's steed, a concept brought to China by Buddhism. In earlier pictures and images he was portrayed more as a human with a cock's head and feet and with bat's wings. It was only later that he became more like the Garuda which several foreign writers of the 19th century certainly identified from his iconographical detail.
Lei Shen in the temple in the Western Hills is dark skinned, dressed in colourful robes over armour and with black spiky hair. He has no unique characteristics and is therefore unlikely to be accepted as the Thunder God by the majority of Chinese.
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