[ { "id": 204306, "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-1961", "page_number": 74, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n70\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n(P'u-hsien), and Avalokitesvara (Kuan-yin). Only certain Buddhas of the Tantric Sect, such as Cundi (Chun-t'i) and Vairocana (P'i-lu-chê-na) are mentioned as \"saints from the West\"; but even these are given Taoist-sounding titles like tao-jên. In this way, the mainly Taoist framework of the novel is preserved. This amalgamation of Buddhist and Taoist deities is highly interesting and may have influenced actual religious practice in China. The practice of worshipping Taoist gods side by side with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas seems to have started after the publication of the novel, for in earlier Taoist literature we find no Buddhist deities mentioned among Taoist gods. For instance, in the Yün-chi ch'i-ch'ien, chüan 103, we find an account of the Taoist pantheon as it was in the eleventh century, which contained no Buddhist deities or fictional gods. But after the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, various Taoist gods mentioned in the novel came to be worshipped together with Buddhist ones. What is more, most of the temples which apparently first adopted such practice were situated in northern Kiangsu, near Hsinghua, the native district of Lu, the author of the novel. It is therefore not unreasonable to suggest that the novel influenced the composition of the Chinese pantheon and contributed to the amalgamation of Buddhist and Taoist gods in popular belief.\n\nThe amalgamation of Buddhist and Taoist gods seems to have been achieved purposely by the author of the Fêng-shên. As a concrete illustration, I propose to describe how Vaisravana (P'i-sha-mên Tien-wang), one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhist belief, and his third son Nata (Na-cha or No-cha), became important characters in this novel. Vaisravana was of course an Indian god, but during the T'ang and Sung periods he became identified with the Chinese general of the T'ang dynasty, Li Ching. But stories about him were disconnected before the novel Fêng-shên Yen-i was compiled. In various prompt-books which existed before the novel, such as the Nan-yu-chi (\"Prince Hua-kuang or The Voyage to the South\") and the Hsi-yu-chi (“Pilgrimage to the West”, the prototype of the famous novel of the same name) in the Ssu-yu-chi (\"The Four Travels\"), there were already stories about this god and his son. But in the hands of the author of the Fêng-shen these fragmentary and disconnected stories were reorganized and transformed into a vivid tale which can almost stand on its own as an interesting story apart from the whole\n\n* For illustrations of some of these temples, such as the Kuang Fu Monastery in Tai-hsing, Yangchow, and the Tu Tien Temple in Hai-men, Kiangsu, see Père Henri Dore, Recherches sur les superstitions en Chine, (10 vols., Shanghai, 1913-38), Bk. 9, Pt. 2, in Vol. 6.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204320, "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-1961", "page_number": 88, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n84\n\nVol 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nsaw a dazzling light penetrating into his palace making the walls transparent. He dispatched his son, Prince Mo Chieh (E), with a group of mariners to go around in the sea to investigate.”\n\n26\n\nThis Mo Chich, probably a re-incarnation of Bimbisara, who was a king of Magadha () converted by Sakyamuni and who died and was re-incarnated as a son of Vaisravana, has been changed into Ao Ping in the above quotation from the Fêng-shên Yen-i, and has lost his original Buddhist flavour. Comparing this short paragraph from the Tung-yu-chi with the composition and description of the corresponding paragraphs in the Fêng-shên, we can see the artistic superiority of the latter.\n\nThe combat between No-cha and Ao Ping, the third son of the dragon-king, has a tragic end. No-cha put his foot on Ao Ping's neck and struck the latter's forehead with his bracelet, thus killing him. No-cha pulled out the sinews of the little dragon and went back, saying he would make a good belt of it for his father to fasten his cuirass on. The dragon-king, hearing of the death of his son, went to see Li Ching, and put the latter in a very embarrassing position. Li Ching, being ignorant of his son's prodigious feats, denied his guilt. But No-cha came out and apologized for what he had done, and told the dragon-king that his son's sinews were intact. The dragon-king was exasperated and told Li Ching that he would lodge a complaint at the court of the Jade Emperor against father and son. The story continues:\n\nAfter No-cha had calmed his parents he went to the Chin-kuang Cave and told his master, the Taoist Immortal T’ai-I, of his adventure. The master ordered him to unfasten his coat, drew spells on his bosom, and told him what to do the next morning. \"After that,\" the master said, \"you may go back to Ch'en-t'ang Pass. If anything unusual happens, you must tell your parents that I shall be responsible for your misdeeds.” The next morning No-cha reached the Pao-tê Gate (F),27 the gate of heaven. After a while he saw the dragon-king approaching wearing his celestial robes, but because of the magic spells on No-cha's bosom, the dragon-king could not see him. No-cha was so angry that he strode forward from behind and dealt the dragon-king with his bracelet such a heavy blow that immediately he fell to the ground. (Ch.12)\n\n•\n\n26 No. 9, Fu-shuo Jên-hsien Ching (MA), The Tripitaka in Chinese,\n\n27 Ch. 39, Hsi-yo-chi of the \"Four Travels\", the Pao-tê Kuan (OH) is the Gate in heaven where Li Ching dwells.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204324, "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-1961", "page_number": 92, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Vol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nJournal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n88\n\nhis original body and by his miraculous powers preached the dharma for the benefit of his parents.\n\n邵业\n\nThis is a case which was preached as early as the Sung dynasty. But, though it looks like a part of a Buddhist legend with some details probably omitted, it occurs in no canonical texts and is found to be fabulous. In chüan 6 of the Tsu-t'ing Shih-yüan (...), a work composed by Monk Ch'ên Shan-ch'ing (*) about A.D. 1099, it says,\n\nIn the monasteries there is the legend of his \"giving his flesh back to his mother and his bones to his father,\" but nothing referring to it can be found in the texts of the Tripitaka and no one knows what its origin is.\n\n(王子肉濟父母緣\n\nIn the Tripitaka in Chinese, I have found two cases which may have some relation with the legend of Nata as adapted in the Fêng-shên. One appears in the Tsa Pao-tsang Ching (# BK), chüan 1, subtitled \"A Prince Fed His Parents with His Own Flesh\" (±‡Ùƒƒ2R). It was the prince Hsü Shê T'i (F), a young prince aged seven. His grandfather, the king of Varanasi (M) had been assassinated by an usurper who killed also his two sons. The father of the young prince was the third son. Now the young prince when fleeing for his life with his parents, was faced with the problem of food. His father intended to kill his wife. Thereupon the young prince dismembered himself and cut off his own flesh every day to feed his parents until he had only three slices of flesh to offer. He presented two to his parents and the last slice which was so dear to him was given to a hungry wolf who was a transformation of Indra himself.31\n\nThe prince was an incarnation of Sakyamuni in a previous life. The prince Hsü Shê T'i in this Buddhist legend was seven, and his father was the third prince. It is quite possible that in the popular mind the jataka story became confused with the Tantric one, because in some Tantric texts such as the Pei-fang P'i-sha-mên T'ien-wang Sui-chun Hu-fa I-kuei (... \"Ceremonies In the Worship of the Heavenly King Vaisravana, the Protector of the Army\"),\" Nata is regarded as\n\n30 Nata's relation with Tantrism was still very clear in records as well as in the public mind. cf. Hung Mai (), / Chien San-chih (BEZ) chuan 6, on \"Ch'êng Fa-shih\" (El), Han Fên Lou (*) ed.; T'ai-p'ing Kuang-chi (XP), chüan 92, 1-sêng Lei (M), on Nata, In most of the Yuan plays, Nata is a fearful god (MME).\n\n91 No. 203, The Tripitaka in Chinese. cf. No. 156, Ta-fang-pien-fu Pao-ên Ching (XSEOREC), chüan 1, Hsiao-yang P'in (442).\n\n32 No. 1247, The Tripitaka in Chinese.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204325, "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-1961", "page_number": 93, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n89\n\n\"the second son of the third prince of Vaisravana, the Heavenly King of the North”(北方天王吠室羅摩那羅閣第三王子其第二之孫) and in this text Nata addresses Vaisravana as \"my grandfather\" (RAXXE). Furthermore, this legend appears also in 卷一 of the Ta-fang-pien-fu Pao-ên Ching (大方便佛報恩經) (ASENNUE), and as I have found another story about the \"reincarnation from the lotus\" also in that sutra, which is also similar to the description of No-cha's reincarnation in the novel, I think both these stories may have influenced the author besides the case cited above.\n\nThe story of No-cha's reincarnation and the combat between the father and son is a very dramatic one and it reveals again the literary gifts of the author:\n\nNo-cha's souls, being dispersed, had nowhere to go, drifting about in the air. They went directly to the grotto of the Immortal T'ai-I. Chin-hsia (金霞), the younger disciple of T'ai-I saw it at the entrance, came to the master and said, \"I wonder why No-cha is now borne on the wind and drifting about freely.' (Last paragraph, Ch.13 and first paragraph, Ch.14, Fêng-shên Yen-i.)\n\nWe know from the previous narratives of the novel that No-cha was an avatar of Ling-chu Tsu, the Intelligent Pearl. But why was he so named? I think the following paragraph from Ch.2 of the Nan-yu-chi may explain both this name and the last paragraph I have just quoted:\n\nThe Intelligent Light (Ling-kuang) was enveloped by the Purple Emperor (紫皇) with the magic weapon Nine-bend Pearl (九曲珠) and died in that Pearl. The souls of the Intelligent Light borne on the wind had nowhere to go, and were seen by the Celestial Honoured All-Merciful and All-Compassionate Marvellous-Delight (慈悲妙喜天尊) (NEVRXO) who was in his meditation in the Palace of Eight-scenes. Watching the souls drifting about, he thought...\n\nAs the Chinese character is monosyllabic, it is easy to pick out the character ling (靈) and chu (珠) from this paragraph to form a new name and give it to No-cha as his other title since the description of his reincarnation is partially derived from here. The story continues thus:\n\nThe Immortal (T'ai-I) charged No-cha, “This is your place no more. Return to Ch'ên-t'ang Pass and see your mother in dreams, request her to build a temple for you to dwell in on the Ts'ui-p'ing Hill (Green Screen Hill) forty li away from the Pass. Sacrifices will be offered to you for three years and after that you may be reincarnated. Go ahead and do not tarry.\" During the third watch of that night No-cha appeared in a dream to his mother, saying, \"Mother, my souls have nowhere to go and I have suffered bitterly. Pray", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 204592, "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-1963", "page_number": 73, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "62\n\nJ. L. CRANMER-BYNG\n\nallow them to reside there temporarily is already improper. If by any chance they are allowed to occupy it permanently and build additional houses it would be all the more improper.\n\nWe have repeatedly explained this to him tactfully. According to the barbarians' statement, if they are not to reside at Prince I's palace they must be given Duke Ch'ï's palace in Ch'ang-an Street in the eastern part of the city. He still wants to build additional houses. Furthermore, he states that each year they are willing to pay a rent of one thousand five hundred taels. At present we are still attempting to dissuade him, and not to let them reside in a nobleman's palace. Instead we are looking for another palace for them. Whether they will listen to us or not we will act as occasion demands.\n\nIn a memorial submitted in the second year of the reign of the Emperor Tung-chih (1863) Prince Kung wrote: \"Prince Kung and others further memorialize that ever since England ratified the treaty in the tenth year of the Emperor Hsien-feng (1860) it has been using the palace of Duke I-liang as an official residence.\"\n\nAlso in a subsequent memorial about the French Legation buildings Prince Kung wrote: \"Moreover the English envoy, before withdrawing his troops inside the An-ting gate occupied the Palace of Duke I-liang on his own initiative*\" 自行” (i.e., without authorization from Chinese officials).\"\n\n* Chou-pan i-wu shih-mo ##** Hsien-feng, chüan 68, 2b-3a. Hereafter cited as IWSM.\n\n4 IWSM, T'ung-chih, chüan 20, 36a. I-liang was the fourth son of Mien-ch'ing ✈, [a direct descendant of the Emperor K'ang-hsi]. In the eighteenth year of Tao-kuang's reign he was created a \"general guarding the state\" of the third rank. In the first year of Hsien-feng's reign (1851-2) he succeeded to the title of “duke guarding the state\" # 2. In the eleventh year of T'ung-chih's reign he was granted the title of pei-tzu Я† (a Manchu title bestowed on the sons of imperial princes). He died in the thirteenth year of Kuang-hsü's reign (1887-8), Ch'ing-shih kao ***, Huang-tzu shih-piao 2 *** 'genealogies of the sons of the Emperors, 于世 piao 4, 9b.\n\nIWSM, T'ung-chih, chüan 20, 37a, column 5. The An-ting Men gate of established peace', is the easterly of the two gates in the north wall of the Tartar City, and the starting point of the road to Jehol. It was occupied by the British in 1860 who dragged their guns up the ramp and positioned them on the wall in order to command the city.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205186, "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-1966", "page_number": 142, "title": "RAS-1966", "content_text": "136\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\n35 The informants who assisted me with their recollections of the N.W. Kowloon villages in the article mentioned in note 29 above recalled that similar proceedings took place yearly at the Sham Tai Chi or Temple of the Third Prince on the beach at Law Uk, Cheung Sha Wan until it, too, was removed for redevelopment in the mid 1920s. Fights between the various participants, especially Hakkas with Hoklos, were quite common at festival times.\n\n36 See S. Wells Williams, Easy Lessons in Chinese, Macao; Chinese Repository Press, 1842, p. 127.\n\n37 This type of organisation is also common in the New Territories of Hong Kong. Indeed it was apparently found all over China: see Werner's China of the Chinese, pp. 163-165 for a good general description.\n\n38 In 1897 Yau Ma Tei had a population of 8051 (Sessional Papers 1897, p. 485) and by 1907 as much as 17,812 (Sessional Papers, p. 273). The name means Oil and Hemp Ground, though my informants tell me it has an older name Tai Shek Lat (私大石ᑟ) which may be translated as Row of Big Stones. \"Lat\" is a colloquial word.\n\n39 Hong Kong Government Gazette for 1877, p. 81.\n\n40 See Mr. Chadwick's Reports on the Sanitary Conditions of Hong Kong, Eastern No. 38, printed for the use of the Colonial Office in November 1882, pp. 42-43. Through a printer's error he calls Yau Ma Tei “Yan Ma Ti”.\n\nSee Sessional Papers 1899 p. 482 for another description of the adjoining area.\n\n41 No evidence of this particular type of activity survives from the Yau Ma Tei district. However a few examples can be cited from the Kowloon City area. Mr. W. Schofield has sent details of a tablet (1828) found pre-war beside a broken bridge near the former Kowloon City rifle range which records the names of officials, shops and passage boats contributing to the work; and a tablet dated December 1895/January 1896 recording the repair of \"Temple Road\" at Kowloon City is still in existence. A direction stone at the site gives left for Kowloon Tsai and Sham Shui Po and straight on for the Hau Wong Temple. The work was organised by sixteen directors (财事) who are listed on the tablet.\n\n42 For a description of one of these processions see Hardy, p. 280.\n\n43 The inscription above the main entrance also records reconstruction (equivalent of) November/December 1878.\n\n44 The tablet is dated the equivalent of November/December 1894.\n\n45 I am indebted to Messrs. Patrick Wong and Dicken Yang of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs for part of this information.\n\n46 See, for instance, G. T. Lay's account of missionary visits to Hong Kong and Kowloon in 1839 between pp. 279-300 of his The Chinese as they are, London; William Ball & Co., 1841. Rev. George Smith's visits to Kowloon in 1844/45 are described in his A Narrative of an Exploratory Visit to Each of the Consular Cities of China and to the Islands of Hong Kong and Chusan, London, Seeley, Burnside and Seeley, 2nd edition, 1847, pp. 72 seq.; and Rev. William Burns' visits from Hong Kong in 1848 are mentioned in James Johnston, pp. 71-74.\n\n47 Impressions of China and the Present Revolution: its Progress and Prospects, London; Seeley, Jackson and Halliday, 1855, p. 24.\n\n48 See James Johnston, p. 71.\n\n49 See The China Mission Hand Book, Shanghai; American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1896, pp. 272-280 for an account, with statistics of the Basel Mission's work in South China for 1893.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1966.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207032, "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-1974", "page_number": 103, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "NOTES ON THE SOURCES OF DE MAILLA\n\n97\n\njusqu'à sa quarantième année: Ce prince les revit lui-même, y ajouta une préface de sa façon, & les fit imprimer dans son palais la quarante-septième année de son règne: il en distribua un exemplaire à chacun des grands de sa cour, défendant expressément d'en laisser paraître aucun au-dehors; cependant le P. de Mailla est parvenu à se procurer un de ces exemplaires, qui lui a fourni les détails qu'il donne de l'expédition contre les Eleutes, à laquelle Kang-hi marcha en personne, & où il acquit beaucoup de gloire.\n\nCe que le Missionaire historien dit de l'île Formose, que les Chinois appellent Taï-ouan, est tiré du Tchi-chu, ou Mémoires historiques de ces îles, rédigés sur les ordres de Kang-hi, par les plus habiles lettrés du Fou-kien. Le docteur Tchu-tsing-yen lui a encore fourni le complément de l'histoire du fameux pirate Tchin-tchi-long & de son fils Tching-tching-kong, qui chassa les Hollandais des îles Formoses, où il se forma une principauté indépendante, que Kang-hi n'enleva au prince Taï-van, son petit-fils.\n\nWe have already discussed the first of these works, Chu Lin's Ming-chỉ chi-lüeh; as for the discrepancy between the notes concerning its date of publication, the 35th year of K’ang-hsi, 1696, is correct. The account of Koxinga's campaign against the Dutch in Formosa, specifically attributed to this source, erroneously dates it as 1659,23 instead of 1661. I have been unable to determine whether the blame should be attached to Chu Lin, as de Mailla's editor surmises,24 or to the good father himself, who has elsewhere recorded the date properly.2\n\nThe second, Ch'in-cheng p’ing-ting shuo-mo fang-lüeh *****, provides a detailed account of the K'ang-hsi emperor's difficulties with the Eleuthes, 1677-98, including his campaigns against Galdan (d. 1697).26 Both Manchu27 and Chinese versions are extant, the latter, in 48 chüan (plus 1 chüan of geographical description) having been published with an imperial preface in 1708.28 The director-general of the compilation was Chang Yü-shu # 1₺ (1642-1711) who, in 1696, had accompanied the emperor on his campaign.29\n\nI am at a loss to identify the third, \"Tchi-chu,\" or the \"historical memoirs\" of Formosa, said to have been \"drawn up at the command of K'ang-hsi by the most able scholars of Fukien.\"30 In addition to this source of information, de Mailla must have profited from a trip", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207204, "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-1974", "page_number": 275, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "咤\n\nKabik(51)\n\nPlate 8. A Hokkien god carver's sketch of The\n\nThird Prince, Na Tó (哪吒).\n\nPlate 9. The attendant to Tién Hou the Goddess of the Sea, \"The one who hears the following wind\" (四耳), having gold leaf applied.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207262, "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-1975", "page_number": 30, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "22\n\nJOHN T. MYERS\n\nwithout assistance. The diagnosis of spirit possession is invariably rendered by an older kei tung. It is a common belief that those chosen by the gods to serve as their mediums are persons destined to die at a rather youthful age. Their lives are prolonged in order that they may serve the possessing deity. Confirmation of a predes-tined early death is sought by the Taiwanese in the possessed's horoscope and by the Chiu-chow in his having fairy bones shan kwat.\n\nThe mere fact of spirit possession, however, is not sufficient to qualify one as a new kei tung, capable of mediating effectively between the world of man and that of the gods. To determine whether the possessing spirit is a benevolent one or an evil spectre the neophyte is initially subjected to ritual exorcisms by an older kei tung. He will also be required to demonstrate the authenticity of his possession by an ability to endure without apparent discomfort various types of bodily mutilations. At Tai Wong Ye Temple, even after he is judged authentically possessed, the neophyte is required to undergo a further period of training and observation by the senior kei tung before he is allowed to handle the petitions of worshippers during public ceremonies. The length of the \"training period\" is indeterminate depending in large measure on the judgment of the senior specialist. Once he is satisfied that the neophyte is ready the new \"Ki Tong\" is allowed to conduct unassisted public ceremonies, dispensing advice, amulets foo, and/or medicinal herbs to petitioners.\n\nDuring the period of intensive field research (1973-74) the Kwun Tong temple commanded the services of three \"official\" kei tung and one who was \"in training\". The undisputed hup cheung or cult leader was the medium who had experienced his initial possession in Lo Fu squatter camp. Employed now as a foreman of dockyard coolies he is likely on any given evening to be found at the temple. Subsequent to his possession by Tai Wong Ye he has been chosen by another deity, The Third Prince, to act as his medium.\n\nThe second medium is a Chiu-chow in his early 30's whose father is one of the founding members of the temple, i.e., one of \"The 19 Brothers\". Employed as a textile worker in Kwun Tong he frequently works overtime at the factory and is therefore more often to be found at the temple on feast days than on an ordinary\n\nPage 30\n\nPage 31", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207366, "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-1975", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "126\n\nRICHARD J. SMITH\n\nWhen Ward's employment was first reported to the throne in early 1862, the governor of Kiangsu, Hsueh Huan, took special pains to point out that Ward, in addition to being a courageous and seemingly invincible warrior, was also a loyal servant of the throne, who had petitioned to become a Chinese subject and to change to Chinese ways. Although Ward's petition had in fact been submitted almost a year earlier in a successful attempt to avoid prosecution (this was, of course, unmentioned in the memorial), Hsueh argued that it would be \"inconvenient to repress the sincerity\" of his \"wholehearted turning toward [Chinese] civilization\" (hsiang-hua). Hsüeh suggested that Ward should be granted the fourth rank button and peacock feather in order to encourage him to \"admire right behavior and establish merit” (mu-i li-kung). In response, the throne issued an edict conferring the honors, satisfied that the foreigner had indeed \"turned out of admiration toward Chinese customs\" (hsiang-mu Hua-feng). He was, in Peking's eyes, sincere, helpful and obedient, \"surely worthy of admiration and esteem.”67\n\nIn subsequent months, Ward received additional rewards: the third rank button, brevet rank as colonel, and finally \"expectant\" colonel status. By all accounts he was a brave and singularly effective commander. At the same time, however, he was a brash individual, whose independent spirit and flamboyant style offended, and occasionally alarmed, the Chinese. As Ward's prestige and self-confidence grew, criticisms of his behavior began to appear in memorials to the throne. Hsieh Huan, for one, began to complain of his arrogance and unmanageability. Prince Kung, a leading figure in both the Grand Council and the Tsungli Yamen, found Ward to be proud, boastful, and overly independent. The throne, for its part, expressed special concern over Ward's failure to shave his head and change to Chinese clothing. (Particularly damaging was Hsüeh's report that the barbarian commander had failed to conform to Chinese customs because he feared the ridicule of foreigners!) From Peking's vantage point, the acceptance of Chinese culture was the principal means of gauging the foreigner's receptiveness to imperial control. When Ward failed to conform to the dictates of propriety, his actions cast doubt on his sincerity, and perhaps more importantly, on the efficacy of traditional restraints.68\n\nAll Chinese did not view Ward's indiscretions as matters of great concern, however. Hsüeh's successor as governor, Li Hung-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207545, "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-1975", "page_number": 313, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n305 \n\nand Fire of the Ninth Heaven' (AARAX). The character for fire () was written upside down and though he was unable to explain why, a senior actor claimed that in this title it was always written in this way. \n\nIt is possible to group the images of Marshal T'ien into two types, the civil and military, the former without a sword or swords. In the latter he is unconnected with the theatre and is a potent God of epidemics and a demon dispeller, and as a soldier he frequently carries a bell and wears armour. We have only the Bangkok Chinese actor's unsubstantiated claim that this epidemic deity is the middle brother of the three, although in Singapore and in Taiwan the sword carrying, armour-wearing version also bore the same title as the actor's patron. \n\nAs a general rule Marshal T'ien has eight attendants: two boxers, two jugglers or dancers, two wrestlers and two musicians (one male and one female normally surnamed Cheng). His main festival is celebrated on the sixteenth of the sixth lunar month, although his birthday is also celebrated in one or two places on the twenty-third of the eighth lunar month. \n\nChief Marshal T'ien's titles \n\nHe is known by many titles, the following being the most common: \n\na) T'ien To Yuan Shuai (田都元帥)\n\nb) San T'ien To Yuan Shuai (三田都元帥)\n\nc) San T'ien To Ch'ien Sui (三田都千歲)\n\nT'ien, the Chief Marshal\n\nThe Chief Marshal, Tien the third (brother)\n\nThe Imperial Prince, Tien the third (brother)\n\nd) To Yuan Shuai (*) The Chief Marshal\n\ne) T'ien Kung Yuan Shuai (田公元帥) Duke T'ien, the Marshal\n\nf) T'ien Hsiang Kung (田相公) T'ien the Minister\n\ng) Chen Hua San T'ien To Yuan Shuai (探花三田都元帥) The Graduate T’ien*\n\n* Chen Hua (T'an Hua) - the third level of Imperial graduate in the chin shih or doctoral examination at the Capital.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207549, "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-1975", "page_number": 317, "title": "RAS-1975", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n309 \n\nwith Taoist exorcisms and are performed at wedding ceremonies to obtain from Heaven the happy union, using the ritual of a local Taoist folk religion heterodox cult of the Three Ladies' (三娘). The 'Three Jesters' are called by the puppeteers the \"Three Brothers' (三兄弟) or, individually, the Great, Second and Third Wang Yeh.* \n\nSchipper then explained that he and his informants had made many conjectures in order to identify the Three Jesters. He believed tradition links the Three Brothers (Three Jesters) with the Three Tien Brothers and thus with Tien To Yuan Shuai, and this seemed to him to be better founded than other conjectures. He continued that the identity of T'ien is extremely confused, and claimed that T'ien is reputed to be the master of T'ang Emperor Ming Huang (唐明皇) and to have taught the actresses of the Peach Garden (梨园), popularly believed to be the first academy of the theatre. Iconography, he said, represents T'ien the puppet as the 'laughing lad', similar to T’ien To Yuan Shuai. \n\nSchipper observed that when the plays are of the northern Fukienese type, the Three Jesters are identified with T'ang Ming Huang, the patron of the theatre of North China. When the play is Southern Fukienese or Ch'aochow, T'ien To Yuan Shuai (Chief Marshal T'ien) is the patron, and the Three Jesters are identified with him. The T'ang Emperor is also often referred to in Taiwan and South East Asia, where he is also accepted as the God of Actors bearing the title of the Imperial Prince or King of the Western Ch'in (Hsi Ch'in Wang Yeh, 西秦王爷) or Hsi Ch'in Lao Wang Yeh (西秦老王爷), or, on Taipei and Keelung altars just as Hsi Ch'in Wang (西秦王). (He is called the King of the Western Ch'in because of his exile in Szechuan, in Western China). His image is more colloquially referred to as The Young Gentleman (小哥) and less respectfully as The Old Boy (老郎). Schipper agreed all this might seem highly incongruous, but, he continued, the tradition which links the 'Three Brothers' (The Jesters) with Tien To Yuan Shuai (Chief Marshal T'ien) seems, as we said earlier, better founded than others. \n\nWang Yeh \n\nSchipper has linked the Three Jesters with the Fukienese epidemic gods by the title of Wang Yeh. He also noted the legend \n\n* More often than not Wang Yeh (Imperial Princes) in Fukienese communities are epidemic deities.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1975.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207806, "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-1976", "page_number": 194, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "IN THE PATH OF THE ANCIENT MON --PAGAN, PEGU and NAKORN PATHOM\n\nMICHAEL SMITHIES\n\nThe fourth overseas tour of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society and the third led by the author of this article, went to Burma from 26 December 1975 to 2 January 1976. Forty-two members and guests went on the tour, and most stayed on for a two-day extension in Bangkok.\n\nMount Popa, the extinct volcano which is the home of the 37 nat or spirits worshipped by the originally animistic Burmese, can be clearly seen on fine days as the plane comes to land at Nyaung-U. But the short drive from there to Pagan past an incredible number of vast ruined brown brick temples (whitewashed where they are still in use), soon gives an idea of the Kings' and peoples' devotion to Buddhism and the splendid ensemble Pagan must have been at the time of its greatness. This lasted from 1057, the date of the conquest of Thaton by the Burmese king Anawratha, to 1287 when the grandson of Kublai Khan, Prince Ye-su Timur, occupied the city and overthrew the dynasty. Some 5,000 temples still remain in part but virtually no lay buildings, with the exception of the traces of the city wall of Pagan and the Sarabha gate to the old city dating from the 9th century. Both are probably relics of the period of the Pyu, about whom little is known after 832 since they became totally absorbed by the incoming Burmese quite early.\n\nAnawratha brought from Thaton to Pagan thirty elephant loads of sacred texts, many monks, innumerable craftsmen as well as the conquered Mon royal family, and Mon culture was dominant in the early period of Pagan, to the extent that the Burmese adopted and still use the Mon script. Mon buildings were characterised by narrow blocked windows and a certain functional squatness. The materials used were brick, with a true arch, which was covered with stucco into which were sometimes inserted green glazed terracotta plaques. The inside of the buildings was nearly always covered in paintings applied to a dry surface and so not correctly frescoes. The buildings essentially form two different types. The first is the solid stupa, often raised on receding terraces, and the second a...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208732, "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-1979", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "162\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nare, of course, an enormous number of deities mentioned and described in Taoist ritual texts, of whom the common people do not even know the names. They belong to the esoteric tradition of Taoism and are only known to Taoist priests. But besides those, the majority of deities worshipped in the temples belong to the popular religion, although many border cases may exist of mutual absorption between the three traditional religions and the popular religion. Some of the most ‘popular' deities of Taiwan religion belong to the popular or community religion: examples are Matsu, Kuanti, the earth god(s), the Wang-Yeh gods, the city god(s), Prince Nat'o or T'ai-tzu, Pao-sheng ta-ti and even the so-called supreme god of Taoism, Yü-huang Ta-ti. A number of originally Taoist or Buddhist deities have been absorbed into the folk religion and have become part of it: Kuan-yin and Ti-tsang wang for the Buddhist side; the kitchen god, Yü-huang (Jade Emperor), the 8 Immortals for the Taoist side.\n\nAccording to the third criterium mentioned above, ownership of a temple, several categories exist greatly coinciding with the division based on the other two criteria. Temples may be government-owned (Confucian temples); owned by the local community on the neighborhood or town levels (these are the community temples); or privately owned, either by individuals, families, sectarian groups or monastic institutions.\n\nFinal sub-section of Chapter Three. After this long digression, I had better return to my book review. In this last part of Chapter Three the author discusses the 'genesis of temples'. Although strictly speaking there is a difference between temple and cult, between temple and deity worshipped in it, still the two should be discussed together. In fact there is a special chapter on the Genesis of Gods. However, since the author prefers to discuss the genesis of temples separately, we had better follow him. He distinguishes several ways of temple development:\n\n(A) by process of fen-shen or \"splitting bodies\" (p. 125). The reason of the spread and construction of new temples is the god's efficacy.\n\n(ii) by process of proselytization or a conscious effort on the part of the believers to spread the cult. This applies to Buddhist temples (and Christian churches).\n\n(iii) by transformation of a private home or temple into a community temple.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211634, "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-1989", "page_number": 49, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "24 \n\nand not even a tablet is permitted. Images of the Jade Emperor seen in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and in South-East Asia are all very similar, portraying him as a bearded, usually gilded, image of an official seated on a throne, with a jade tablet clasped in both hands before his chest (see Plates 2 and 3). His head-dress is not a crown in the western sense, but a classic hat, the mien (mian) the rectangular mortar board cap from which is suspended, front and back, thirteen red cords bearing green, red and blue beads and descending almost to the level of his eyes. Thirteen indicates his supreme rank. This, it should be noted, is the typical standard image of a great number of official deities other than the Jade Emperor, and the only way one can categorically identify his image is to see it on his altar, or to find that it bears an original inscription describing it as the image of the Jade Emperor.\n\nHis image is placed as high on the altar as possible, even to the extent of placing it on as many as three to four tiers; his image, even more than most, must never permit his feet to be touching the ground. In a number of places he is considered to be too holy and too powerful to be portrayed by an image; his title only being recorded on a tablet which occupies the centre of his altar. Images of the Jade Emperor are to be seen not only on the main altars of temples dedicated to him but also, in a small number of instances, on secondary altars in temples dedicated to lesser deities. In Suifu in Szechuan, Graham in 1928 counted nineteen images of the Jade Emperor on altars in the town. The images were placed on the first floor of the temples whereas other gods were normally on the ground floor.\n\n7\n\nGrootaers noted that the cult of Yuh Huang was well represented in the sanctuaries built in high spots in the city of Hsuan Hua (south of Chang Chia Kou [Kalgan] and northwest of Peking). The earliest was dated 1535 AD. Yuh Huang was better known there as Hao T'ien Shang Ti and his image portrayed him as a bearded scholar with a mortar board cap.\n\nIn many folk religion temples in Ch'aochou (Teochew) communities his tablet stands in the front centre of the altar table nearest the main entrance, and in front of the main altar, with only an image of the Third Prince on his altar table standing between the Jade Emperor's tablet and the entrance. The altar of the Jade Emperor is referred to as the T'ien Kung T'an (Tiangong Tan). On his birthday, the 9th of the first lunar month, large sacrificial offerings to T'ien Kung are placed on this special altar", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211638, "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-1989", "page_number": 53, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "28\n\nSheng Mu (玉皇聖母)\n\nOne of the more interesting arrangements is the main hall of the Temple of the Jade Emperor in Tainan. The Jade Emperor occupies the main altar with the San Kuan (Three major Taoist deities) immediately before him. On his left hand is his son, referred to as the Fourth Heir Apparent (Yu Huang Ssu Tien Hsia F) (see Plate 4) but without any personal name, and on his right is his grandchild, the Third Princess (San Kung Chu Niang, see Plate 5). According to the temple keeper she is the younger sister of the Jade Emperor's heir Yuh Huang T'ai Tzu, and her annual festival is celebrated before her altar on the 15th day of the third lunar month. The other children of the Jade Emperor are not represented. An image of the Jade Emperor's third daughter (see Plate 7), a princess whose name is not given, is the main deity on an altar in a temple in Pai Sha on the Pescadores Islands. On the same altar are four other princesses, said to be her sisters, but again without names. These four are lesser deities.\n\n10\n\nMrs. Goodrich was told by her Peking informant that Yen Kuang Niang-niang, the deity who watches over eyesight, was the sixth daughter of the Jade Emperor. Her image in the Temple of the Eastern Peak in Peking portrayed her carrying images of eyes in her hands. She has to be worshipped by a pregnant mother or her child will be born with incurable eye trouble.\n\nIn another temple on the Pescadores, the Lung Tu Temple in Makung, the Third Prince of the Jade Emperor is the main deity on one of the major altars. He is flanked by smaller images of the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Princesses (Ta, Erh, Ssu, Wu Kung Chu). This Third Prince Yu Huang San T'ai Tzu should not be confused with Na Cha, who is also referred to as the Third Prince (Nacha San T'ai Tzu). The third son of the Jade Emperor is portrayed as a seated, beardless, middle-aged man holding an unsheathed sword vertically before his chest and with his left hand raised to shoulder height making a mystic sign. He is wearing a high, round-topped cap with a bead-screen, and has four flags signifying his military rank in a rack across his back.\n\nThis same deity, Yu Huang San T’ai Tzu, has been noted with an image of the Taoist deity, the Saintly Mother (Sheng Mu) on a side altar in the main hall of a large folk religion temple in Manila.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211649, "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-1989", "page_number": 64, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "39\n\nmajor festival held every five years, hence their title. The ten are Chang (H), Hsu (1), Keng (I), Wu (5), Ho (FPJ), Hsuch (B‡), Feng (B), Chao (#), T'an (M) and Lu (F).\n\nThe generally accepted leader of the Pestilence Wang Yeh is Chih Wang Yeh (1) who is also known by other honorifics, as are other Pestilence Wang Yeh, as Chih Fu Wang Yeh (b); Chih Fu Yuan Shuai (EBD); Chih Fu Ch'ien Sui (af); Chih Fu Tai Hsun (£FF{X); Chih Ch'ien Sui (-1) or Tai T'ien Chin Fu (RX##). In Singapore and Malaysia a not uncommon title for the Pestilence Wang Yeh is 'Great One' (Ta Jen AA), a title more frequently given to non-Pestilence Wang Yeh in Taiwan. In Ang Mo Kio in Singapore three Pestilence Wang Yeh, Li, Liu and Chin who occupy the main altar are referred to both as Ta Jen and Wang Yeh in temple notices. They are prayed to not only for protection from disease but also for tranquility in the home. In Taiwan and South-East Asia a number of what would be non-Pestilence Wang Yeh in Fukienese communities are referred to as Lao Yeh (Em) and Ta Jen. They are mainly in Hakka communities and are very local deified and revered worthies.\n\nPestilence Wang Yeh are identifiable by the honorific 'Touring and Inspecting on behalf of Heaven' (Tai T'ien Hsun Shou X). The various other titles borne by Pestilence Wang Yeh in Taiwan include Tsun Wang (Honourable Prince), with the three on the altar being the First, Second and Third Honourable Princes (AZE); Ch'ien Sui (Prince or Excellency T); En Wang (Prince of KindnessE); Wang Kung (Prince 4), and 'An Emissary for Disaster Relief' (Hsing Ts'ai Shih Chih 77(K).\n\nA number of temple keepers differentiate between a Wang Yeh and a Ch'ien Sui. The former they claim to be permanent whilst Ch'ien Sui are only temporarily on Earth 'for less than one thousand years'. The Wang Yeh are said to be the senior, promoted on orders from Heaven, whilst the Ch'ien Sui are deities promoted by popular acclaim. They are, however, prayed to in the same way, for the same things and with the same results. The latter are also the patrons of sorcerers (wushih ZEL) who use them as a go-between between them and their spiritual contacts. There is little functional differentiation as all are believed to be capable of fending off disasters and curing sickness.\n\nIn one instance, and probably in others too, the full title of a particular", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211650, "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-1989", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "40\n\nPestilence Wang Yeh contained the character revealing where he had originated from. An altar in a converted shophouse temple in the suburbs of Taichung bore the title 'Chinmen Su Fu San Wang Yeh'. The temple keeper's family, also named Su, had brought the image over from Quemoy (Chinmen island) off Amoy.\n\nAn example of the many idiosyncrasies involving the worship of the surnamed Wang Yeh can be observed in the Ma Temple in Ssu Hu village in Yunlin county where the Ch'en family has worshipped Pai Fu Ch'ien Sui+ for many generations. The temple was built there with Pai Fu Ch'ien Sui as the major deity but following an epidemic Ma Fu Ch'ien SuiT, the ancestral deity of the local Ts'ao# family became the major deity on the altar. He is regarded as the senior of the two Wang Yeh. According to local legend, during a virulent epidemic Pai Fu Ch'ien Sui gathered together Ma Fu Ch'ien Sui, Ta Sheng Yeh (Monkey god), the Third Prince (T’aitzu Yeh), Kuan Yu (the red-faced god of loyalty), and T'ien Shang Shengmu (The Holy Mother of Heaven better known as T'ien Hou) and together they stopped the epidemic. In their gratitude the locals extended the temple to honour them and, according to the temple keeper, the whole area has been peaceful and harmonious ever since. Ma Fu Ch'ien Sui, the senior Pestilence deity in the group, is portrayed as a multi-armed deity, with a multi-coloured striped face sitting on a throne. It is very Hindu in its appearance.\n\nIn Hsin Ying near Tainan a main deity known as Han Lao Yeh##Zm but better known colloquially as Han Ch’ien Sui### was discussed by a number of villagers. In consensus they decided he was not a Wang Yeh despite being a protective deity who was particularly revered for the maintenance of good health. They were unable to identify Han but recalled that he had been a civil official in Fukien whose image had been brought over to Taiwan long after he had been deified.\n\nPestilence Wang Yeh generally occupy the main altar of the temple in which they reside. The main deity will occupy the centre spot with the junior Wang Yeh in lesser positions beside him. However, in a number of temples they can also be seen in a row on the altar table before the main altar which can be dedicated to another, entirely unconnected deity. This would seem to be the temple staff taking advantage of the custom of borrowing a Wang Yeh image to take home for private reverence by the sick, who leave a donation in the temple for the service. Pestilence Wang Yeh images are frequently carried home from temples", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211654, "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-1989", "page_number": 69, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "44\n\nCommander of the Main Army [ff]) and the Yu Ying Kung share the sanctified premises and all offerings. The stalls in front of the temple sell 'gold paper' for the Wang Yeh and 'silver paper' for the Yu Ying Kung together in one bundle. Worshippers have to pay their respects at both temples or their prayers will not be answered. These are special characteristics of this temple.\n\nThe temple was completed in 1824 and Wang Te-lu (E), an Escort to the Crown Prince and a native of Taiwan, went to Nan K’un Shen to pay his respects to the Wang Yeh. It was generally believed at that time that such deities are incarnated officials and are feared by demons. The way to test whether a deity is a genuine incarnation or not is for a living high official to kick the effigy of the god and if it is a demon in disguise then the effigy will fall over. Wang Te-lu kicked an image of one of the Five Wang Yeh with his boot but the image did not budge.\n\nThe Yu Ying Kung is known in this temple as The Lord of the Myriad Kindnesses (Wan Shan Yeh). He is also referred to colloquially as the Infant Duke (FA).\n\nAccording to legend, one of the Five Wang Yeh of Nan K'un Shen in 1820 made a tour of inspection to the north of their area and encountered the local magistrate also on tour, in what is now Chia I. Neither would give away to the other and a dangerous confrontation took place. A nearby illiterate farmer suddenly had supernatural powers and wrote in the soil with his hoe, \"Representing Heaven in order to deal with both the Yin and Yang worlds. Hope that the bad government will change for the better\". The magistrate seeing these words hurriedly gave way. The local Prefect heard of the incident and decided that he would like to test the power and genuineness of the Wang Yeh. By coincidence the Wang Yeh was on his way to Tainan, where the Prefect had his Yamen, in the course of his inspection tour. So the Prefect ordered his men to tie an effigy of the Wang Yeh on the altar to a large tree stump and announced that if the effigy was unable to free itself from the tree stump then he, the Prefect would chop the effigy up for firewood. Nothing happened for two days and then, on the third day at midday two large black dogs appeared, jumped on to the shrine and tore away the large tree stump. The Prefect was very impressed and pledged that he would go each year to the shrine to worship before the Wang Yeh.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211667, "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-1989", "page_number": 82, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "57\n\nThe third non-pestilence Wang Yeh is Sui Chia Wang Yeh (隨駕王爺). This Wang Yeh whose title means 'Following the Imperial Carriage' was the general-in-charge of the royal guards during a legendary visit to Taiwan by the Chinese crown prince, later to be the Ch'ing emperor Chia Ch'ing in about 1690. Images of the general Li Yung, and his deputy Wang Fa, stand on the altar of a temple in Nantou in Central Taiwan. The crown prince received reports of a plot by the Hsiao family, so legend claims, who in conjunction with a hill tribe planned to assassinate him, Li Yung attacked the Hsiaos and although he was killed during the battle the Hsiaos were forced to retreat and the crown prince was saved.\n\nSo much for legend. According to historical records, in 1721 Chu Yi-kui rose against the Ch'ing dynasty in Taiwan to restore the Ming, and Li Yung was appointed Duke by Chu. Both Li and Chu were defeated and captured by the Ch'ing forces and executed in Amoy. The probability is that the temple, which was erected in 1899, just after the occupation of Taiwan by the Japanese, was erected to commemorate Li Yung's, and by extension the people's opposition to foreign (in Li's case, Manchu and in the people's, Japanese) occupation of Taiwan.\n\nA fourth example of a non-pestilence Wang Yeh, but from central Taiwan this time rather than the south, is Su Fu Wang Yeh (蘇府王爺), a Tang dynasty official now better known as General Su.\n\nIn the early days of its development Quemoy (Chinmen) was repeatedly attacked by pirates. Due to the superhuman bravery of General Su they were defeated and Quemoy was pacified. He, Su Yung-sheng (蘇永盛) to give him his full name, and Ch'en Yuan, the Horse Breeding Duke, another official serving T'ang T'ai Tsung, worked together to develop the area.\n\nThe pirates called Su Yung-sheng 'Su Ta Wang' (The Great Lord Su 蘇大王). In his twilight years Su was transferred on promotion to the mainland where he was appointed a Wang Yeh.\n\nAfter he died a temple was built in his honour in which he was revered together with four of his subordinates, Chiu (邱), Liang (梁), Ch'in (秦), and Ts'ai (蔡), who were honoured with the honorific of Ch'ien Sui (Excellencies). \n\nA major temple, the Chinmen Kuan, in Lukang on the west coast of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211668, "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-1989", "page_number": 83, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "58\n\nTaiwan is dedicated to General Su. He is worshipped by Lukang traders of Quemoy (Chinmen) stock for protection. Two images of him stand on the main altar, one being the main image (Su Fu Ta Wang Yeh *) and the other a secondary image (Erh Wang Yeh Em). According to the temple keeper the latter was carved to satisfy the demand of worshippers for a portable image to take home for private reverence. A third image known as the San Wang Yeh (=E) was placed on the altar of a nearby branch temple (Fen miao). A number of branch temples dedicated to Su as a Wang Yeh, a Ch'ien Sui and as a General or Marshal (Chiangchun and Yuanshuai é) are to be found in many places in central and northern Taiwan.\n\nHis image on the main altar of his temple in Lukang portrays him as black faced and black bearded, a standard carving of a seated dignitary wearing a scholar's gilded cap. Before him are seated five other images, one is the portable image of him in the centre, flanked by the four minor Ch'ien Sui, Chiu, Liang, Chin and Ts'ai,\n\nIt is interesting to note that the deities in the temple at Lukang are colloquially referred to as Su Fu San Wang Yeh, The Three Su Wang Yeh. This despite them being but one person, and there being only two images in the main temple whilst the third is in a temple nearby.\n\nFinally, some dozen or so small images of standing soldiers in a V formation together with their commander crowd a secondary altar in the temple. They represent the army of General Su.\n\nThese four are examples of non-pestilence protective deities referred to as Wang Yeh; there are a few other deities, not protective deities as such, who are also referred to as Wang Yeh in Taiwan. A good example is the T'ang emperor Ming Huang, patron of actors and actresses, known also as the Prince of the Western Ch'in (Hsi Ch'in Wang Yeh Еƒ). He fled to Szechuan province in the far west of China after he abdicated which led to him being given this title. T'ang Ming Huang is probably best known to foreigners for his infatuation with the concubine Yang Kuei-fei which nearly lost him his throne.\n\nTo conclude, the large cult of Pestilence Wang Yeh, almost exclusively worshipped nowadays by the Fukienese and referred to simply as Wang Yeh has been confused over the years with other cults whose individual deities have borne the same honorific which, despite being protective", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213615, "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-1995", "page_number": 211, "title": "RAS-1995", "content_text": "184\n\nfrom China, whose image has not been noted during my travels around Chinese temples in South-east Asia nor in Taiwan, and almost certainly Hokkien as the main deity, the Third Prince Nazha, and the other deities in the original village temple included Fa-zhu Gong, Sun the Monkey deity and several unnamed pestilence Wangye.\n\nAn elderly carver in Singapore told me during the early 1960s that he knew nothing about the deity apart from having drawn a sketch for his personal records a year or so earlier. The deity is portrayed as a dishevelled fierce male, sitting, dressed in armour covered by a long red robe. He has bare feet, round staring eyes, and unkempt hair and beard. His skin is chocolate brown apart from the shaven or bald front half of his head and his cheeks which are decorated with white and coloured stripes of red and green. Such markings are very uncommon. Similar ones, typical of the painted faces of opera characters, have been noted on Fukienese pestilence Wangye and on minor warriors, escorts to major deities.\n\nSo, apart from his title and his possible ethnic group, Hokkien, we do not know his legend and background, nor do we know why or for what he was revered.\n\nHowever, now that his image has reappeared on an altar, in Tampenis New Town, who knows what might happen. It is not impossible for a miracle, revealed perhaps in a dream or trance, to be attributed to Qixing Dadi and for the cult to take on a new direction and life.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1995.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214011, "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-1997", "page_number": 80, "title": "RAS-1997", "content_text": "46\n\nappeared to the Sixth Son who was resting, weary and sick with over-work and revealed to him that Meng Liang had recovered the bones of another and gave the Sixth Son details of where his, the father's, body really lay. Meng Liang set out once more, disguised as a Tatar soldier and after a series of episodes the bones were recovered, but not before several of the Sixth Son's comrades had been killed or committed suicide. These deaths led the Sixth Son's condition to deteriorate and for his spirit to wander whilst he lay in a coma. The emperor's nephew on his way to visit him saw a tiger barring his path and shot and grazed it with the arrow. On reaching the bedside of the Sixth Son, who rallied at that point, the Prince was told that the tiger was the spirit of the Sixth Son roaming the hills and was duly appalled at the idea that he had nearly killed the Sixth Son. Despite all efforts, the Sixth Son's condition grew worse and soon he died, vomiting blood.\n\nIn another episode of the tea-house tales the ruler of the Liao Khitan planned to assassinate the Sung Emperor at a meeting to which the Sung Emperor had been invited at Chin-sha Nan. As the plan had been detected by the Eldest Son of the Yang family he disguised himself as the Sung emperor whilst the Second Son went as the Crown Prince, with the other brothers in attendance. In the event they in turn were recognised and in the ensuing fight the Second and Third Sons were killed and, apart from the Sixth and Seventh Sons, the others were captured.\n\nOne of several cult centres dedicated to the Yangs in northern China developed in a temple on the Buddhist holy mountain of Wu T'ai Shan, in northern Shansi province. There are at least three temples in Taiwan in which Yang Yeh is the main deity. And only in Taiwan are the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth sons collectively portrayed together on several altars with the collective title of the San Wang-tsu. In an old temple near Taichung the seven main images on the main altar represent the Seven Sons although, according to the temple keeper, the group did not include the father. However, the smaller portable images of the Seven on the front of the same altar had alongside them several other images which did include the Father, Yang Yeh, and the Mother, Yü Lao T'ai-chün, and a complete outsider, the mythological deity, Yang Chien [Erh Lang] who bears the same surname. The temple keeper explained that in about 1986 all nine main images, carved on the mainland many years ago and brought over to Taiwan, which at that", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1997.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214341, "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-1998", "page_number": 199, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "(40)\n\n(40)\n\n(42)\n\n(43)\n\n(44)\n\n(45)\n\n(46)\n\n(47)\n\n163\n\n\"Amusements on the Ice\", \"sketch by our special artist, one third page, The Illustrated London News, 23 February 1861, p. front page.\n\nTeahouse in Peking - From a sketch by our Special Artist”, double page spread, The Illustrated London News, 23 February 1861, p. 170.\n\nThe Illustrated London News, 13 April 1861, p. 330, c. 3.\n\n44\n\n\"A Group of Chinese\", The Illustrated London News, 13 April 1861, p. 331.\n\n\"The Russian Mission Church in Pekin - From a sketch by our Special Artist\", half page, The Illustrated London News, 2 March 1861, p. 187.\n\n\"The Chinese General Prince San-Ko-Lin-Sin – From a photograph by Signor Beato\", The Illustrated London News, 13 April 1861, p. 357, c. 3.\n\n44\n\n\"A Portion of the Emperor of China's Summer Palace, Near Pekin”, half page, The Illustrated London News, 27 April 1861, p. 390. From a photograph taken on 18 October 1860, \"only one day before the Palace was destroyed by fire.\"\n\n\"Part of the Imperial Palace, Pekin\", \"from a photograph taken on 29 October [1860]\", half page, The Illustrated London News, 27 April 1861, p. 390.\n\n(48) \"View of the Gardens and the Buddhist Temple in the Imperial City, Pekin\", half page, The Illustrated London News, 4 May 1861, p. 414.\n\n(49)\n\n(50)\n\n(50)\n\n(52)\n\n\"Chinese Guns\", six figures with narrative, The Illustrated London News, 6 April 1861, p. 325.\n\nThe Illustrated London News, 6 April 1861, p. 325, cc. 2-3.\n\nThe Illustrated London News, 23 February 1861, p. 171, c. 1.\n\n\"A Group of Chinese\", The Illustrated London News, 13 April 1861, p. 331.\n\n(53) The Illustrated London News, 23 February 1861, p. 171, c. 1.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214355, "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-1998", "page_number": 213, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "178\n\namends. King Wu also held an audience at which he announced that certain Daoists and generals who had bravely fought and died should be regarded as heroes and revered as such. At that point a number of Daoist mythological heroes stepped forward and declared that as they were uncultured, having lived in the mountains and countryside, they now wished to return to report to their masters. They added that they were unable to accept honours or rewards as they had simply followed the orders of their masters. All seven left the Court, and the following day after a feast, they were reluctantly permitted to leave by King Wu.\n\nMy daughter, a friend and I during a visit to Song Shan in Henan province, one of the Daoist holy mountains, came across a large modern temple which, as we approached its entrance, looked real enough until we came to enter it. There were several young women in a uniform of sorts knocking a badminton cock around to while away the hours and, of all things, a turnstile. We then saw the name of the temple was Fengshen Gong, the Palace of the Investiture of the Gods, and entered wide-eyed wondering what could possibly be inside.\n\nOnce inside we were taken by our guide down a short corridor and out into what proved to be a massive wax-works, images of scenes from the Fengshen Yanyi as well as images of the major local deity, the Lord of Zhong Yüeh, the Lord of the Central Peak [Song Shan]. The exhibition, we were informed, had been built by the Tourist Board of the local city, Deng Feng, for Chinese visitors. Well over 200 images, mostly static but with some dozen or so automatons, lined the winding path leading through the large exhibition hall. With a not too subtle gesture our guide switched each on and off until, apparently bored by her foreign guests who spent quite some time at each exhibit, she abandoned us and returned to her badminton. The place was deserted apart from four small boys who were delighted to be alone with us and took enormous pleasure in switching on and off the various exhibits for our benefit without any guide being there to chastise them.\n\nScenes included the wicked Zhou Wang ascending his throne; Na Zha, the Third Prince, Causing Trouble with the Dragon King; Duke Fa [King Wu] subjugating Zhou Wang; the Terrace of the Investiture on which Jiang Ziya is reading out the decree canonising the heroes, and the Five Sacred Ones returning to Heaven. Several of the automated exhibits had the small boys in fits of giggles; one in particular", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214356, "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-1998", "page_number": 214, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "179\n\nwas the decapitation of a Fox Fairy, possibly the wicked King's concubine, Dan Ji. In legend the spirit of a fox inhabits the body of a beautiful young woman who then bewitches and captivates men. When killed such woman immediately revert to their fox body origins. In the exhibit the young woman is standing and as the sword descends her head rolls off and rolls about on the floor before immediately reverting to its original position on her body. The boys were only too delighted to press the button to cause the head to roll again and again. Another was the birth of the Third Prince out of his caul. In legend he is born an apparent monster but after a swift slash with a sword the caul opens and the child emerges. Once more the boys played this for us several times.\n\nThis was possibly not the most ideal way to be introduced to the Fengshen Yanyi. A year or so earlier my daughter and I heard of the small temple dedicated to Zhou Gong, located at the foot of Phoenix Mountain in a rural area north of Qi Shan in Shaanxi province. We drove there to find in the main hall of a memorial temple, which had just been renovated, an image of Jiang Ziya flanked by two mythological deities, Na Zha and Yang Jian [see Note 8]. The first of the two, is a seven year old youth who caused havoc in Heaven and, better known as the Third Prince. He is nowadays the primary guardian of temple altars in Taiwan where his image stands on the altar table before the main altar. His is a traditional story tracing the age-old conflict between generations, and conflict of power and responsibility. Yang Jian has certain magic powers, which he used during the conflict but is also regarded as a potent deity who protects against demonic attack. He is often referred to as Er Lang, and he and his small dog are to be seen in a number of temples and in many he is regarded as the patron deity of dogs. The murals across the whole of the main hall's side walls depict episodes from the Fengshen Yanyi complete with Jiang Ziya first mobilising the deities of heaven to help the Duke Fa, and finally, the scene of the Investiture itself on the Terrace of the Investiture.\n\n10\n\nA number of temples in the central-west of China used to contain large gilded 'mountains', carved structures representing a mountain with crags and caves on which were superimposed a number of carved wooden gilded images of Daoist deities. The vast majority of these were also characters from the Fengshen Yanyi.11", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214675, "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-1999", "page_number": 90, "title": "RAS-1999", "content_text": "54\n\nCity itself began at about the same time. The land south of the City Wall was cleared, and the land between today's Carpenter Road and Prince Edward Road, Grampian Road and Sa Po Road was developed. All this area was developed before the mid 1930s. Nga Tsin Long village disappeared at this date (it lay close to today's Nga Tsin Long Road). The old Market disappeared, too: it was cleared along with the villages nearby. By the middle 1930s, nothing at all was left of the old villages south of Kowloon City, with the exception of a few houses of Sai Tau near the Hau Wong Temple, and about a third of Sha Po, which remained, rather forlornly, on the eastern edge of this development area until the 1960s.\n\nFor the Nga Tsin Wai villagers, the problems this development caused were very great. For half-a-dozen years there was no Market at Kowloon City, effectively, at all. Half the League of Seven had disappeared within a couple of years. The economy and society of the area had thus been very seriously damaged. The shops and workshops owned by the villagers had to close: rental income was cut off.\n\nIn the later 1930s there was no further development in this area, because of fears caused by the steady growth of Japanese influence across the Border. However, these years saw a huge number of refugees fleeing from the Japanese into Hong Kong. Squatter huts were thrown up in the area around Kowloon City, both over the strip of land between the Walled City and Carpenter Road (this had been cleared for development in the mid 1930s, but left empty when development slowed down), and to the east of the City, around Tung Tau, and Nga Tsin Wai. The area north of Nga Tsin Wai village became full of squatter huts in this period. Squatters occupied many of the village fields, and the villagers were not usually able to get rent for them.\n\nAll these problems were shared with Po Kong. The Po Kong people, unable to understand why their comfortable life had suddenly shattered, put the blame on their Goddess. They took their Tin Hau and cast the image into a great fire. This sacrilege shocked the Nga Tsin Wai villagers greatly: not only was the Goddess thus dishonoured, but also the Po Kong people were the Goddess' own relatives (the Po Kong Lams come from the same village and clan as the Lady Lam who was later deified as the Goddess Tin Hau). The Nga Tsin Wai people retained their faith in the Goddess. The disasters which befell Po Kong over the next few\n\nPage 90\n\nPage 91", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215072, "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-2000", "page_number": 168, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "125\n\nthe death of his mother who had been defenestrated on orders from her husband, King Zhou, as punishment for bearing such a 'monster.' Yin Jiao was determined to destroy not only his father but also the Imperial Concubine, Da Ji, the Nine-tailed Fox Spirit and current royal favourite who had caused the death of Yin's mother by her calumnies. Yin was presented with two magic weapons by the Goddess Tian Fei, a gold club and a battle-axe, and after the final great battle between the forces of the declining, sinister and corrupt Shang dynasty and the victorious future Zhou dynasty at Wan Xian Chen, Yin Jiao fought first on the side of his father, King Zhou. Later, after switching sides and fighting for the good King Wu, he was unfortunately decapitated by a general during the battles having been sandwiched by the Buddha Randeng between two mountains. He was deified during the general deification at the end of the war by Jiang Ziya, the future Prime Minister of the new dynasty, on the authority of the Jade Emperor. Yin Jiao, at the end of the novel, having been sent by Heaven to bring dread calamity down on to King Zhou because of his blasphemies and evil ways, volunteered to be the executioner of his father and his father's concubine, Da Ji. He was proclaimed Prince Jingming and was rewarded by the Jade Emperor for his bravery and filial piety with the titles of Taisui, Marshal Yin and with the presidency of the Ministry of Time. In the novel, the full title of Yin Jiao, the younger son of the evil King Zhou of the Shang dynasty, is Dou Lei Taisui Yin Yuanshuai.\n\nRC\n\nand as one of the Twenty-four Heavenly Lords he is also referred to as Yin the Heavenly Lord (Yin Tianjun).\n\nAn entirely different story is given in another novel, the Shenyi Jing which tells of Jin Chong, the son of Pan Gu the creator of the world, who lived in the mountains of Shandong province. Jin was canonised as Taisui by Fu Xi, a primeval ruler and sage, the first of the three emperors of the legendary period, for his many good deeds and was made responsible to Heaven for supervising the activities of all the spirits and demons. Few Chinese would appear to know this story.\n\nDoré, who refers to Taisui as the Patron of the Harvests, explains that Yin Jiao's baby name whilst living with He Xiangu was Jin Nazha. This adds further confusion to the legends surrounding Li Nazha [the Third Prince - San Taizi], a very popular deity who appears with great frequency in Chinese legends and fairy tales.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215107, "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-2000", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-2000", "content_text": "160\n\nThe Emperor\n\nTang Ming Huang was the third son of the fifth emperor of the Tang. His personal name was Li Longji [AD 685-761], though popularly known as the Third Son, San Lang. He is now the patron of actors and professional musicians, worshipped backstage by Fukienese devotees in Taiwan and several places in South-east Asia. Prior to 1949 he was also revered throughout northern China as the patron of actors, actresses and musicians, with incense burnt before his altar prior to every performance [Photograph 1].\n\nHe succeeded his father who abdicated in his favour in 713, and ruled the country fairly. The first part of his reign approximated that of his great-grandfather, Tai Zong, in prosperity and glory. He began by economising and by 740 the country was reasonably prosperous. Being a man of the arts he surrounded himself by a brilliant court, welcoming such men as the poet Li Bo. It quickly became the most glorious period of Tang culture. He loved song and dance and he had built within his palace an area known as the Pear Orchard, Liyuan, to bring together the best actors and actresses, dancers and singers in all China. The title, Liyuan, later became a common designation for anyone who sang, acted or danced professionally.\n\nMany myths are particularly centred on Tang Ming Huang - and stories about him abound describing him as a very sociable man, fond of music and drama, with men and maidservants being trained as actors and musicians for whom he composed tunes. He also founded a school of dramatic art.\n\nThere are at least six temples in Taiwan dedicated to this deity, in Taipei, Taichung, Changhua and Kaohsiung where his festival is celebrated on or about the 24th of the sixth lunar month.\n\nAs a deity he is known by a number of titles, including Ming Huang Dadi 明皇大帝; Lao Lang Ming Huang 老郎明皇; Lao Lang 老郎; and in Beijing Xi Shen, the God of Happiness. In Sichuan, however, his images were simply referred to as the Bodhisattva Prince, Taizi Pusa and, as elsewhere, were worshipped backstage, principally to prevent actors and actresses from bursting out into uncontrolled laughter or forgetting their lines. He is the patron in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2000.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215366, "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-2001", "page_number": 143, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "Yet another minor deity on a side altar rehoused in a new temple in Hougang in Singapore. It is the Saintly Lord of the Dragon Tail, Longwei Shenggong\n\nwhose image is in the centre and\n\nflanked by the Third Prince, Li San Taizi on his right hand and an unidentified deity swathed in a silk robe on his left.\n\n16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]