[ { "id": 211039, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 100, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "75\n\nfame of Huang Daxian in Hong Kong. They have learned about this god from relatives living in Hong Kong, or from the Hong Kong media. However, in Guangdong province the Hong Kong Huang Daxian is frequently identified with another Taoist figure with the same surname but a quite different biography.\" The Hong Kong Huang Daxian, Huang Chuping, was, before his deification, a Taoist hermit living during the Jin dynasty (317-420 A.D.) on Jinhua Mountain in Zhejiang province, where he became an immortal. However, as the first author discovered during a research visit to China in 1985, many Guangdong Taoists believe that the Hong Kong Huang Daxian lived and became an immortal on Mt. Luofu,* in Guangdong province. They believe that the Hong Kong Huang Daxian is the same figure as a Mt. Luofu \"Huang Daxian” known as Huang Yeren (Huang the “wild man”), who lived, according to the sources, roughly during the same period as Huang Chuping.\n\nIn August of 1987, we returned to China to visit the remains of a Huang Daxian temple in the ancestral village of the founder of the Hong Kong Huang Daxian temple.' We also visited Mt. Luofu to learn more about Huang Yeren. We discovered that some people were unaware of the difference between the two Huangs, and that their confusion of the two was due to lack of knowledge about the biography and origins of the Hong Kong Huang Daxian. However, attempts have also been made by people with some awareness of the differences between the two Huangs to merge these two figures: to unite two deified Taoist hermit-saints into one personality on the basis of similarities and supposed historical connections between the two. Evidently this process of the merging of several originally distinct deities into one figure has occurred a number of times in the history of religions, but it is rare that one has the opportunity to witness it firsthand.\"\n\nThe following is an account of the two Huangs, and of our discoveries in China of the confusion or merging of the two figures.\n\nHong Kong's Huang Daxian: Huang Chuping\n\nThe main Huang Daxian temple in Kowloon contains a plaque", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211040, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 101, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "76\n\nwith records of the \"autobiography” of the Taoist saint Huang Chuping, the figure worshipped by many thousands of devotees in Hong Kong as \"Wong Tai Sin.\" This autobiography has been reprinted in official publications of the Sese Yuan, and reads as follows (using the Sese Yuan's translation):\n\nAs a young shepherd boy, I spent my early childhood at Kim Hwa [Jinhua] Mountain located at the north of Kim Hwa City in Chekiang [Zhejiang] Province. The mountain was said to have derived its name from Venus and Mou Nui Constellation (Wunüxing) both of which were directly overhead. Orientated at the north of Kim Hwa Mountain was the Hill of Red Pines where I took abode. This hill, densely forested and often hidden in clouds and fog, was seldom frequented by outsiders. Among thick natural vegetations and interlocking peaks there was a deep ravine named Kim Hwa, one of the thirty-six caves of the similar geological structures in the neighbouring district.\n\nMy childhood was marred by poverty and hunger, compelling me to start earning my daily bread as a shepherd boy at the age of eight. At fifteen I was fortunate enough to have been blessed by a fairy who led me to a stone cave where I learned the art of refining cinnabar nine times into an immortal drug. For forty years in succession, I lived in this seclusion from the rest of the world until my brother broke this isolation. His early efforts were at first futile. However, through the guidance of a Taoist fortune-teller, he located me. My brother queried me of the whereabouts of the sheep under my custody. To this I replied that they could be traced in the east of the Kim Hwa Mountain. He was surprised, on arrival, to find nothing but heaps of white boulders which quickly transformed into sheep at my call. Fascinated by this impressive show of mine, my brother also took steps to learn to become an immortal.\n\nOriginally, I was named Wong Cho-ping (Huang Chuping), a subject of the Tsun [Jin] Dynasty and a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211041, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 102, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "77\n\nnative of Tak Kai [Danxi] District. The derivation of my name as Red Pine Fairy was due to my living in seclusion in Red Pine Hill. To differentiate myself from the Red Pine Fairy who was in close company with Chang Liang [Zhang Liang], I wrote this autobiography. (Sese Yuan, 1971;3)\n\nThis autobiography is thought by some current members of the Sese Yuan to have been received from the god by the way of the fuji divination procedure, but actually it seems to have been drawn from the story related in the fourth century work titled Shenxian Zhuan (Biography of immortals). This work contains brief descriptions of the lives of eighty-four Taoist hermits and seekers of immortality. The passage on Huang Chuping is as follows:\n\nHuang Chuping came from Danxi. When he was 15 his family had him tend sheep. A Taoist seeing that he was good-natured and conscientious took him to a stone cave in the Jinhua Mountain. For forty odd years he stayed there without thinking of his family. His elder brother Chuqi searched for him for many years in the mountains but without success. Once in a marketplace he saw a Taoist. Chuqi beckoned him and asked \"My brother Chuping who was sent out to tend sheep has not been seen for more than forty years. I don't know where he is or whether he is dead or alive. Would you please find out by means of divination?” The Taoist said, \"On the Jinhua Mountain there is a young shepherd by the name of Huang Chuping. Doubtless he is your brother.\" When he heard this, Chuqi followed the Taoist in search of his younger brother. He found him. The brothers told each other of what had happened during all these years. Chuqi then asked his brother where the sheep were. \"Not far from here on the eastern side of the mountain,” Chuping answered. Chuqi went over there and looked for them. He didn't see them. He only saw white stones. He went back and said to Chuping, \"There are no sheep on the eastern side of the mountain,” Chuping said, “The sheep are", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211045, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 106, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "81\n\nwas copied by a craftsman in Guangzhou from a scroll painting supplied by the temple for use as a model. The scroll painting once hung in a reception hall of the main temple. We viewed and photographed this painting (which is not on public display). The inscription on the painting is Chisong Daxian (Red Pine Fairy). The painting is evidently one painter's version of the ancient figure of the Red Pine Fairy, and is similar to another, older picture of this figure.26 The painting does not explicitly refer to Huang Daxian. However, the appearance of the figure, who is holding a handful of herbs that he has collected, and the two deer at his feet, are consistent with a portrayal of Huang Yeren.\n\nTo summarize: Huang Yeren has been known in the Luofu area, and probably worshipped, since at least the early Song period. There was once a separate shrine to Yeren, and when the temple was rebuilt after being destroyed in the early 1800's, Yeren was moved into the same room as Ge Hong. Now, there is a separate room for Huang \"Daxian\" at the Luofu Chongxu Guan. However, he is now no longer identified as Yeren, but merely as the Red Pine Huang Daxian. We believe that this has something to do with the belief that Huang Yeren is the same figure as the Hong Kong Huang Daxian—or that the differences are unimportant.” However, the biographies of the two Huangs are clearly irreconcilable. Neither Huang Yeren nor the partly overlapping figure of Huang Li bears any resemblance to Huang Chuping. Further, there are no literary traditions that Huang Chuping went anywhere near Luofu, or anywhere other than Jinhua Mountain in Zhejiang province, and we have found no trace of any previous worship of Huang Chuping at Luofu.28 Hence, it is surprising that anyone should want to confuse the two figures. Why has this confusion of the two Huangs occurred? We now turn to the interviews and sources in which Huang Yeren and Huang Chuping have been confused or merged.\n\nIdentifications of the Hong Kong Huang Daxian with Huang Yeren of Mt. Luofu\n\nIn 1985, the first author interviewed Taoists and others in Guangzhou and in Xiqiao, and found that where they had any opinion about the origin of the Hong Kong Huang Daxian, they", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211055, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1987", "page_number": 116, "title": "RAS-1987", "content_text": "91 \n\nhe did this spontaneously, in response to our questions. In any case, his response constitutes an interesting datum for those interested in the study of religious rationalizations.\n\n28 Ge Hong, of course, wrote of Huang Chuping, but only as one of a large number of immortals. Su Dongpo, who stayed at Luofu in the 11th century, praises a painting of Huang Chuping in one of several poems on various paintings, but does not mention any connection between the painting and Luofu. Qu Dajun's very detailed account of Luofu (in Guangdong Xinyu) and its saints does not mention Huang Chuping at all. It might be noted, however, that the Southern Song court bestowed titles on Huang Chuping and his brother in the reigns of Shaoxing (1131-1162) and Jiaxi (1237-1240). The Ming official Huang Gongfu (1573-1657) also seems to have brought worship of Huang Chuping to Guangdong. He was stationed in Fujian not far from Jinhua Mountain, according to the annals of Xinhui (quoted by Wong “A study of Huang Ta-hsien\"), but became disillusioned with the Ming regime and migrated south to become a hermit in the Xinhui area. While there, he wrote some poems mentioning Huang Chuping. He lived near a rock or crag once named Yang Shi Keng (Sheep stone pit), changed its name to Chi Shi Yan (The crag of shouting [at the sheep]), evidently referring to Huang Chuping's miracle of turning rocks into sheep. There is as yet no evidence that worship of Huang Chuping by the founders of the Hong Kong temple owes anything to the influence of Huang Gongfu. Many of the devotees of the Xiqiao Huang Daxian, however, came from Gaoming and Heshan not far from the home area of Huang Gongfu.\n\n19 The article, authored by An Shi, is on page two of the brochure, which is printed on newsprint-type paper with the heading \"Scenic spots in Luofu, Tangquan, Huizhou”. The brochure, published by the local branch of the provincial Tourist Agency, is clearly written by journalists and local scholars attached to the local cultural affairs bureau.\n\n10 We were told at Luofu that two former members of the local Wenhua Ju (Cultural Affairs Bureau) had written articles to prove that the Hong Kong Huang Daxian originated in Luofu: Mr. Xie Hua (editor of Luofushan Fengwuzhi), now at the Tequ Bao (Special Zone Daily), had apparently written an article for the Shenzhen Ribao (Shenzhen Daily); Mr. Su Fanggui, now at the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Huizhou, had reportedly also written an article on this theme.\n\n31 We were told during the interview with these officials that Huang Chuping was another disciple of Ge Hong; he became an official in Huizhou (obviously a reflection of Huang Li]; he had a brother named Huang Chuqi; he went to Hong Kong, found he had to go far north to a mountain in Zhejiang province, where he was engaged in tending sheep; he became separated from his brother; and so on. These cadres had evidently consulted some books on Taoist saints prior to their meeting with us.\n\n12 Regarding traditions about the mute tigers associated with Yeren, see Soymie, \"Le Lo-feou chan\". p. 27. Soymié points out (ibid. p. 111) that by tradition, several other saints of Luofu also had tigers as companions. Tigers functioned like tutelary deities of the mountain, placed there in part to prevent the wicked and the unworthy from ascending the mountain.\n\n33 We learned while in the area that there had been some recent conflict between the proprietors of rival shrines near the mountain in their attempt to get some of the tourist trade. For a time in the spring of 1987, the Beidi temple on the plain several kilometres from the main temple was by-passed by a steady stream of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1987.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522", "rank": 0 } ]