RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CHINESE MONASTERIES, TEMPLES, SHRINES, ALTARS en 3 They have however continued in S.E. Asia and Taiwan; and in some of the remoter areas of Malaysia there are altars in temples, preserved and much the same as they were a hundred years ago. It is often difficult to obtain a clear answer from devotees themselves whether a particular temple belongs to Daoism, Buddhism or popular religion because, in the main, devotees simply do not understand the question. The majority of Chinese are not concerned with legendary or historical explanations and, if remotely religious, claim to be Buddhist irrespective of which temple they visit or which deity they venerate. In a few temples it is quite obvious that the deities are all of one religion, either Buddhist or Daoist, but the altars in most temples bear a mixture of Buddhist, Daoist and folk religion images side by side on altars. Common usage by both Buddhists and Daoists of temple titles and religious terms also tends to mislead. It is therefore unwise to ascribe, automatically, specific terms to Buddhism or Daoism, though a few have a generally accepted and common meaning. The majority of Buddhist temples for example, are called “Si” and Daoist “Guan”, with “Miao” a common term for either. However, Miao is also the common term for folk religion temples and for certain shrines. "Tang," a usual term for Buddhist monasteries and nunneries, is also used for Daoist or clan ancestral halls and for certain Guan Yin temples. "Dong", a cave, is a Buddhist title very frequently used for squatter temples, suggesting perhaps that the immigrant founder liked to think of himself as a hermit.* Whereas Buddhist and Daoist temples and monasteries bear flowery titles, usually obscure religious phrases or names unconnected with the main deities, folk religion temples tend to be dedicated to one or a pair of specific deities, the main god or gods on the main altar, and his, her or their names or titles are cut in stone or painted over the entrance to the temple.9 In Hong Kong temple building tends to reflect the wealth of a community (unlike in India where it reflects the class of the devotees). There are large establishments where monks and priests live; smaller establishments with a resident or day-time only keeper; and non-residential structures, the smaller of which are usually referred to as shrines. → * The characters referred to in this paragraph are ... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CHINESE MONASTERIES, TEMPLES, SHRINES, ALTARS 11 There are a dozen or so temples in Hong Kong the titles of which should leave one in no doubt that they are Buddhist. To highlight the problem of classifying temples by their religious affiliation, let us examine one in Lo Wai above Tsuen Wan which has a typically Buddhist name followed by the characters for "Buddhist temple". The staff consists of three laymen who run the vegetarian restaurant below the temple and the deities on the altar from senior to junior are Guan Di, Guan Yin, Lu Dong Bin, Dou Mu and Yao Shi Fo. Guan Yin and Yao Shi Fo are Buddhist, whilst the other three are Daoist folk religion deities. Opposite the main altar, on a secondary altar, are a Kitchen God and a Protector of the Law, both represented by framed prints; the first is a folk religion deity and the second Buddhist. And finally, on the table before the main altar is a red wooden rice bucket containing a peck of uncooked rice in which stand numerous items which have without doubt Daoist and not Buddhist origins. Despite the mixture, the three laymen were surprised that there was any doubt that their temple was Buddhist. Confucian and Daoist temples In Hong Kong and Macau there are no Confucian temples as there were in China and still are in Taiwan. There are, however, Confucian Halls such as the one in a school sponsored by the Confucian Society at Caroline Hill, Hong Kong Island. Several Chinese societies in Hong Kong are understood to have private altars dedicated solely to Confucius. The official state religion had its own rites and deities and involved the official bureaucracy and the gentry only. The nearest thing to a State temple in our two territories is the rural school at Fanling where an image of the Yellow Emperor (*) stands on an altar in the main hall, and the side hall of a Macau temple in which a school is held where on an altar there are full-size images of the inventors of ink and writing. "Pure" Daoist temples are rare, there appearing to be none in Macau and some two dozen in Hong Kong of which two are branches of two of the others. These two dozen contain distinct Daoist deities, are run by Daoist bodies represented by a committee, whilst Daoist lay priests and priestesses perform Daoist ceremonies. * Peng Lai Ge (**M**) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 18 KEITH G. STEVENS main altar, with a further three altars down the side walls. In the centre, a long altar divides the upper part of the hall from the lower. A side hall to the west, dedicated to one goddess, is also used as a workshop for the construction of paper items to be burnt in ceremonies for the dead. Behind this side hall is a courtyard beyond which is a separate hall containing three more altars. To the east of the main hall is a secondary hall, dedicated, not altogether surprisingly even in a traditional temple, to the Buddhist Trinity. This hall contains just the one large altar and behind it are the living quarters for the staff. Some traditional temples have had a secondary temple built alongside, as an annex or as a separate temple dedicated to a particular deity, and many traditional temples nowadays have had windows knocked into the outside walls, particularly into the rooms in which the keeper and his family reside. In villages and hamlets there are two types of temple. The first is the small, often single-room popular folk religion temple or shrine, of the kind we have described above, in which one or two major deities are depicted on the main altar. The second, the clan ancestral hall or temple, may be a comparatively large complex of halls and rooms, the main hall of which contains, by seniority, serried rows of ancestral tablets of the most senior members of the family, the public ancestors of each generation back twenty or more generations. Village temples, be they traditional folk religion or clan temples, are more than just religious establishments where prayers and offerings may be made. Side halls and rooms are used as the village storehouse for items like the old rice winnower, large tables and clan crockery*, as the village school, the games room and as the civic and medical centre. They also frequently are homes for one or two of the village needy. Most walled villages in the New Territories have a very small single-hall folk religion temple called a Shen Ting (神廳), dedicated to one of the national or local heroes (such as Guan Di or Hou Wang) situated in the north wall, facing south, and located at the opposite end of the main lane which bisects the village from the main gate. In most walled villages too, the Tu Di Gong (the Earth... * Lineage or village properties that can be borrowed by families on festive occasions. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 22 KEITH G. STEVENS columns, boards, boards bearing auspicious phrases, balustrades, roofs and lattice windows exactly like full-size temples (Illustration 16). Several wooden miniature shrines seen on lower decks of large sea-going junks were heavily ornamented and the carving exquisitely detailed. At the other end of the scale, soap boxes, painted red and upended, serve as the simple shrine of the less affluent household. Actual images of gods in homes are few, and their worship is very limited. Usually, there is just a framed print, and routine offerings consist of a daily incense stick burnt before the print with, in addition, a small offering of tea or rice on the first and fifteenth day of each lunar month. The majority of Chinese who have a household shrine display on their main altar the bodhisattva Guan Yin, who is, without a doubt, the most popular deity of Chinese everywhere. Most homes also have a second “altar”, the Kitchen or Stove God, whose title on a red board is hung up, or when written on a red paper is pasted up near the family cooking range. Shop or factory shrines usually stand or hang on walls at shoulder height, constructed of wood and painted vermilion. The majority of shop shrines contain plaques or prints of Guan Di as patron deity of merchants and Tu Di Gong, the Earth God. Those in fire stations and police stations bear prints of Guan Di in his role as the patron deity of loyalty. On days marked Chu (除)22 in the Almanac (i), old lady devotees offer prayers in the street before unpainted wooden boxes used as shrines. They are propitiating the demons who cause disasters, and are also attempting to change their luck for the better. They use one of their shoes to strike the "small men” (1-A) banging small figures of humans cut out of black paper and at the same time calling out in high-pitched voices for the demons to flee. The voice is pitched particularly high when calling back the roaming soul of a sick child (the absence of the soul being the cause of the sickness). Apart from modern concrete decorative structures in places like the Tiger Balm Gardens and on the foreshore of Repulse Bay, there is only one pagoda in Hong Kong or Macau. This is at Ping Shan, in the New Territories, and was built of stone blocks some three hundred years ago. Like other Chinese pagodas, it has little use other than to enshrine some sacred object, in this case, several images ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 30 KEITH G. STEVENS or halls.32 Nearly 70% of all nunneries are on Lantau island, whereas only 10% of the monasteries are; and three hundred and fifty-three temples and monasteries have resident staff. There are thirty-two temples in Macau, of which two are well-nigh derelict. Of the thirty-two temples, six are coastal, twenty-four are urban, and two rural. The majority of temples contain a mixture of Buddhist and folk religion images (no temples contain only Buddhist images), and the remainder contain only folk religion deities. Degrees of popularity of the major deities in temples and shrines The total number of temples dedicated to a specific deity throughout the two areas reflects the importance of that deity to devotees. In Hong Kong and Macau, forty-four different gods each have at least one temple dedicated to him (or her), whilst only seven gods have more than five temples to him (or her). The seven, in order of precedence (based simply on them being the main deity of a temple or monastery), are Tian Hou (seventy-eight) (*), Sakyamuni Buddha (thirty-nine), Guan Yin (thirty-eight), Guan Di (twenty-one), Hong Sheng (twenty), Bei Di, who is better known as the Northern Emperor, (ten), and Lu Zu or Lu Dongbin (seven). Although this gives only a very rough guide, the number of images of Guan Yin throughout Hong Kong and Macau vastly outnumbers those of Tian Hou. However, when the criterion is the number of temples in Hong Kong and Macau in which a particular deity is to be found (on any altar and not necessarily as the main deity), then the first five are Guan Yin, whose image appears in at least seventy-five temples, Tian Hou (114), Guan Di (88), Qi Tian Da Sheng (Monkey) (61), and Di Zang Wang (59). The Kitchen God, most frequently depicted by a reddish-orange paper pasted on the chimney above the stove, is the most common deity to be seen on the household altar, followed closely by Guan Yin, whose image, as we have noted, is also to be seen in 70% of all temples. The most common deities outside the home are Tu Di Gong, the Earth God (the local tutelary deity), in both urban and * The totals are not the number of images seen but the number of temples in which the deity is the main image in both Hong Kong and Macau. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 306 TABLE 1.1 Partial Genealogical Chart of the Dang Lineage of Kam Tin i Hung-yi Generation 15 Yam Mau Ging Tong) Jan Yeui Gyun 16 (Ching Lok Tong) (Loi Sing Tong) Ching-Lok Naam-Kai Gwong-Yu (adopted) Ting-Jing Naam-Kai 17 Wan-Guk Wan-Gaan Wan-Yu See Table 1.2 Ching-Lok — Ancestral Hall See Table 1.3 18 Chung-Yut Hak-Sa Note: Some of the detail of this chart and those at Tables 1.2 and 1.3 is subject to further investigation. Some collateral branches are omitted. Some of the detail is obscure. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h TABLE 1.2 Partial Genealogical Chart of the First Branch of the Dang Lineage of Kam Tin Yam Generation 16 Ching-Lok (Ching Lok Tong) Wan-Guk Wan-Gaan San-Fung Saan-Chyun So-Hin Naam-Kai Wan-Yu (Loi Shing Tong) Gwong-Yu 17 Sam-Chyun Ging-Chyun Fong Hei-Ye Gwai-Gok Lei-Yun Yun-Fan Sing-Ngok Poo-Am 19 20 21 12 Lam-Mau Jeung-Luk Fuk-Chai 23 (Gwok Yia Jou) Gwok-Yin Yu-Chung Yu-Man Yu-Ji 24 Lok-Sin Chiu-Yip Chiu-Yung Gwan-Leung Gwan-Haak Si-Daan 25 ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ 26 Ying-Yun 27 307 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 329 Loi Tung, among other places, including some to Dongguan and Xiangshan counties. The cousins of Hung-Yi moved away to nearby Ha Tsuen and Xiangshan county, among other places. Hung-Yi's brother Hung-Ji moved to Ha Tsuen. Thereafter, all the remaining Dangs of Kam Tin were descendants of Hung-Yi. Casually asking the Dang elders about the relationship between lineage segmentation and settlement, one is given both concrete examples that suggest a correspondence as well as general observations that there is no correspondence. For example, one would be told that the descendants of the third branch (Yeui), which are very few in number, all live in Wing Lung Wai, and that all the others of that village were descendants of the first fong. Unless one asks about a particular segment, the answers would be in terms of the four branches of the lineage, and the conclusion will be that no single segment lives in a village of its own except in the case of Tai Hong Wai where all the villagers are descendants of Man-Wai and his brothers. Going down the level of segmentation, to the lineage divisions focussed upon ancestors of the 17th to 19th centuries, there is correspondence in the sense that members of these segments all live in the same village. As already mentioned, all the members of the third branch live in Wing Lung Wai. Similarly, all the Ji-Ga Tong people live in Shui Tau, all the descendants of Wan-Yu live in Wing Lung Wai, and all the descendants of Gwong Yu Tong and Lei Ging Tong live in Tai Hong Wai. Another example is the descendants of Wan-Gaan, who, according to one account, had three sons: Fau-Ng, Jan-Ting and Gai-Jau. Gai-Jau's segment live in Kat Hing Wai. Fau-Ng's descendants are divided into three sub-segments. One of the three lived in Ko Po, another in Kat Hing Wai, and the other in Kam Hing Wai. Some segments of the lineage settled elsewhere. The descendants of Hung-Yi's second son Jan had moved to Ying Lung Wai near the Yuen Long Old Market at a very early date. I was told by its head of branch that many more lived in Zhongshan county. Some of the descendants of San-Fung, a son of Wan-Guk, also had settled elsewhere. I was told that most of them live in Kat Hing Wai, but some had moved to Tong Fong near Ping Shan. The ritual handbook for Ching-Lok's ancestral hall had a special provision for the descendants of San-Fung, which said that they had moved to Naam Tau, in a street outside the city wall. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 349 common to them. Most of them took place at one small space which I shall refer to as the ritual site. In most of the rituals, the ritual site was the Taoist altar in the main hall. Wherever a rite took place, the focus was one or more tables decorated with red embroidery, and covered with offerings of candle-sticks, incense, tea, wine, and sweets and food. In many cases the images of the gods to whom the rite was addressed were placed on the table. In most of the rites that took place at the Taoist altar, a distinction could be made between an "inner table" for the three Pure Ones and an "outer table" for the general gods of heaven. The priests put on their different Taoist robes and hats, which, in the main rites, distinguish the high priest from the others, and performed a series of actions to the accompaniment of music, which was played on cymbal, gong, dong-jiu and sona, and in the cases of scripture chanting and a few other rites which consist mainly of chanting, the "wooden fish" and "chime". The other common objects used in the rites included manuals, charms, charm water, a bushel measure, knife, seal, and the faan flags for the Emperors of the Five Directions. To pay their respects to the gods, in many rites the priests held a chiu-gaan tablet before the breast as officials did when received in audience by the Emperor, or held a small incense burner with handles. At certain stages of the rites, typically when reporting their Taoist title and invoking the gods, the priest instructed the ritual representatives to kneel. The bushel measure was on the ritual table during most of the major rites. It contained, besides the faan flags, the sword and seal which represented the power of the Heavenly Master, Zhang Tianshi. With these two symbols of authority the head priest performed his magic steps to purify the ritual area, often using charm water as well. Besides the charms used with water for purification, there were charms for summoning different spirits in the Taoist cosmology. 62 One of the ritual objects which appeared several times in the series of Taoist rites was the Memorial, which existed in three different forms for different purposes. In all its versions the Memorial contained a general statement about the ritual, and a list of all the participants in the ritual, i.e. all the villagers. One version was bound in the form of a book and was usually carried by the no. 1 ritual representative in a paper "pavilion". This Memorial was read in summary during the first stage of most rites, and in full in a few major rites. Used in most of the major rites were Memorials in the form of scrolls, which were at the end of the rites sent off to the different sections of the supernatural ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 361 Back at the ritual site, the ritual representatives installed the image of Gwun-Yam in the temporary altar dedicated to her, and the spirit tablets for the others in the san-paang altar for general gods. These, with the spirit tablets for the gods from the villages, gradually filled up the three levels of the temporary altar. Two ritual representatives fetched the tablet of Hung-Yi from the Ching-Lok Ancestral Hall to his altar on the stage. The portrait of the Heavenly Master was fetched from the village gate of Tai Hong Wai, and installed at a temporary altar set up for him in the Mau-Ging Tong ancestral hall. There were also a few deities to be invited from the sky. They included Tin-Dei-Sheui-Yeung, the gods of the realms of Heaven, Earth (the Underworld), Water, and the human world; Gods of the Naam-Dau ("North Dipper") and Bak-Dau ("South Dipper"), both for blessings to men; the City God and the Lei-Wik (who supervises the local Gods of Earth and Grain and the Earth Gods); Tin-Chyun San-Gwan (two common titles of the highest deities); and the Dragon King. In the last stage of the Opening Rite there were complaints that those gods were omitted. But later on that day temporary spirit tablets for them were seen in the san-paang. D. Procession of incense I The first Procession of Incense took place on the main day of the ritual, to the participating villages of the Kam Tin heung. It was to visit all the temples, shrines, and major ancestral halls to worship the gods and higher-level ancestors. There did not seem to have been a clearcut rule about the lower-level ancestral halls. When I mentioned to an elder that the procession had stopped and worshipped at Lai-Gaan Tong, his first response was that the procession should not have worshipped there. But he changed his mind later: the worship in the rite was indiscriminative, it went to every ancestral hall if the doors were open. A very large number of villagers participated. Priests took part in the procession as well, but their part was limited to a brief invocation. Most of the villagers wore hats with special ornaments indicating their villages. The procession was accompanied by the sound of large gongs, a flag saying jeun-heung ("to offer incense"), and the priests' musician playing sona. There was one lion dance group, and Luk Gwok flags and percussion teams playing drum and gong on lo-gu ga frames representing each of the five main villages. There were also flags ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 368 Sung, Hok-p'ang et. al. (1984), pp. 1-9. 1973 "Legends and stories of the New Territories: Kam T'in', JHKBRAS xiii, 1973, pp. 28-40. 1974 "Legends and stories of the New Territories: Kam T'in", JHKBRAS xiv, 1974, pp. 160-185. Taga, Akigoro Tanaka, Issei 1982 Chugoku Sofu no Kenkyu, vol. 2, Tokyo. 1985 Tsui, Bartholomew Watson, Rubie S. Wolf, Arthur P. (ed.) A Chiu 亞潮(?) baai 拜 baai-san Baak Mou-Seung Ú Baak-Ging Baishe Zhuan Lineage and Theatre in China. Interdependence of Festival Organization, ritual, and theatre in the lineage society of South China, Tokyo. 1989 Village Festivals in China: Backgrounds of Local Theatres. Tokyo forthcoming "Daojiao Yili ya Jishen Kiju zhijian de Guanxi”, forthcoming "Taoist Ritual Books of the New Territories". 1985 Inequality Among Brothers: Class and Kinship in South China, Cambridge University Press. 1974 Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Stanford. GLOSSARY chiu-gaan chiu-dou * Chiu-Yip # chu 柱 Chuk Yuen 竹園 Chung E Chung Yeung 重陽 Chung-Saan U Bak Bin 北便 Bak Dai 北帝 bei 陂 bong 榜 Bou-Dak Chi #AM bui cha-gwo 茶果 Chan Gau 陳九 Chan 陳 chau-san + Chenghua 成化 cheun-ding T cheun-fu 巡撫 Cheung-Cheun Yun cheung-saam Chi-Naam Ching Ming U Ching-Lok Chung-Yut Я chyun 村 Daai-Si Wong ✰± Daai-Wong E daai-yan ★A daai-yau daam daam-jung da-jai 打仔 da-jiu 打醮 dan 躉 Dang 鄧 Dang Chung 鄧璁 Dao 道 da-saat Dei-Jong Wong E ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 370 ji-wai-deui K jou jou-se 做社 juk-jeung Jung Gaai 中街 Jyu-Jai #ff jyu-lou 主腦 Kam Hing Wai MAB Kam Tin B Man Kam To Man-Cheung Man-Wai Mau-Ging Tong Ming 明 Ming-Hok Ming-Lyun Miu Gok Yun 妙覺園 mou-geui-yan #^ Kam Tin Shi mou-leuk-le-wai Kangxi 康熙 Kat Hing Wai 吉慶圍 Kei-Fong Kei-Wa ✩✩ kiu-fu 轎伕 Kwun Yam Shan 觀音山 Kyun-Hin # laam-sang laat Lai Ga Dei Lai 黎 Lai-Gaan Tong Lam Choi 林財 Lam Pui *** Lam Ngau-Jai *4# Lam Yi-Hing Tong # Lam-Mau ** lat 甩 Lau 劉 Lei-Ging Tong Lei-Wik Leung Leung Gwan-Daat Leung Tung 梁同 lo-gu ga 4 Loi-Fu * Loi-Sing Tong *** Lok-Sin Luk Gwok 六國 Lung Yeuk Tau ✯✯✯ luo-tian mu畝 Mui Jai Yun 梅仔圜 Mung Yeung 蒙養 Naam Tau 南頭 Naam Bin Teng # Naam Bin 南便 Naam-Kai Naam-Teng E Nam Pin Wai Ng Sing-Chi f** Ng 伍 Nga-Chyun R Ngau-Wong [Wui] () paang 棚 Pat Heung 八鄉 Ping Shan 坪山 ping-on 平安 Pou-Am Pui-Hing Pun-Gu qimen dunjia 奇門遁甲 Qing 淸 Sa Bui Leng 沙貝嶺 Sa Jeng 沙井 Sai Pin Wai 西邊圍 sai-man ME San Tin 新田 San Sin Fu 神仙府 San Wai 新圍 San-Fung san-teng ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h san wui Sap Pat Heung -|- A sau宿 sau-choi 3 sek Zi Seui 瑞 seui-jeun-si :: Sha Tau T Sha Po 沙埔 Sham Chun 深圳 Sheung Che 1: Sheung Tsuen Sheung Shui 1: Shing Moon San Tsuen Shun Fung Wai MAN Si-Daan MILL sing-bui Sing-Ngok ! siu-cheng Siu-Geui siu-yan 小人 sona 嗩吶 Song 柒 Sou-Lau Yun VTMN Tin-San toi-wai 枱圍 Tong Fong #† tong Tsi Tong Tsuen Tsiu Keng 蕉徑 Tsuen Wan # Tung Tak 通德 Tung Tau Tsuen Tung Fuk Tong Wa Bou 華寶 waang-mei (?) waan-san Wa-Gwong #* wai wai-jyu Wai-To 韋陀 Wang Toi Shan Wan-Gaan S Wan-Guk Wan-Yu H wing-bou ping-on *RTE Wing Lung Wai 永隆圍 Wing-Sau 永壽 Wong E Wong Loi-Yam E wong-gu Wudan Shan 武當山 suk-jing wui-bei Suk-Leun #KA Sung-Gok Taai-Seui Taai-Yut Jan-Yan AZHA wui Tai Shue Ha AMF Tai Hong Wai Tai Hong Tsuen 泰康村 Xin'an A Yam Tai Kiu 火樾 Tai Mo Shan 1 Tai Po Tau 大埔頭 yamen 衙門 yan-hau A Yau-Leun Tong yau-saan Tim-Kau Yeui銳 Ting-Jing NVI yeuk # Ting-Sam Tin-Dei-Seui-Yeung Tin-Hau G Tin-Gwun Chi-Fuk X Yeung 楊 Yeung-Hau A yi * Yi-Chung Wui 371 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 374 which has been copied in an untitled manuscript in the possession of Mr. Dang Yu-Hing).36 Dang Kei-faan Genealogy in the Baker Collection of New Territories genealogies in the British Library. 37 The elder was Dang Wing-Sau, the head of the lineage. I do not know which generation he was in. See Taga (1982:92). 38 Translated in Sung (1974:177-179). 39 40 See table above and the genealogy in Kam Tin Historical Documents, vol. 1. Probably Dang Hei-Seui. See Sung (1974:166-168) and a genealogy of his segment included in Hugh Baker's Collection of Genealogies. 41 Patrick Hase has drawn my attention to the importance of the monastery as central to the establishment Hung-Yi's descendants in Kam Tin, just as Ling To nunnery is to the Dangs of Ha Tsuen. The monastery and the earlier temple are a major element in the fung-seui of the Pat Heung valley and Kam Tin. The rivers important to irrigation in the area all flow from the mountain on which the monastery stands. 42 41 44 I have not tried to find further information on this man in gazetteers. See Sung (1973:112-113) for the Hung Sing Temple. This was one of two stories. They were thought of as alternatives although there is no contradiction between them. I shall relate the other one later. 45 I was told that the Juk-Yun Am used to be at the present site of the Gwaan-Dai Temple of Shing Mun San Tsuen, and San-Sin Fu near Shui Mei. 46 Two items in Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 2 were probably intended for this very grave. These were among the papers of Dang Ting-sam from the year 1873. The first was a request for donations towards the establishment of a charitable grave. The second was intended for a stone inscription. There is strong evidence that the charitable grave was established before the British came, although many present-day Dangs believe that those buried in the grave were those who died fighting against the British. The jiu festival record for 1895 included the Dei-Jong Wong of Tung-Fuk Tong among the gods to be invited, and an elder in his nineties remembered seeing gam-taap jars for bones when he was very small. He deduced that those must have been the remains of people who died before 1898, because one had to wait for many years he suggested ten — until the bones could be extracted after a first burial. 47 A bin-ngaak (horizontal inscribed board) presented to the Buddhist altar at its completion included ten names who were believed to be the share-holders of the Tong. They were three Wan-Guk jiu descendants of Shui Mei: Baak-Cheung, Daat-Hung, and Jik-Hing; three brothers Yat-Wa, Seui-Chuen, Gam-Wa and two of their nephews, and Baak-Yi, all descendants of Wan-Gaan; and a Hin-Yiu of Kam Tin Shi. 48 Plus a inscribed stone on the ground saying Naam-mo O-Mei-To-Fat, set up to offset the bad influences that caused traffic accidents near the stone. 49 Hoi-dang for a village did not always take place at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. In the Shui Mei case it took place at the Tin-Hau Temple. 50 The elders made it clear that gu here does not mean “shares". 51 The subjects for these paper images were specified in the contract made with the craftsmen. The contract was included in the general record for the festival and was copied from the previous ones. But neither the organizers nor the contractor seem to have paid much attention to the details of the prescription. 52 The object is probably more commonly known by the name dong 'an and is more often installed over the central area of the Taoist altar rather than in the backstage room. See ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 55 intellectually lethargic. It was also from Liu's diaries we discover that Ruan Yuan's house was burned down on April 2, 1823 with heavy losses, including Ruan's entire library.1 31 The founding of the Xue hai tang in Canton brought to Ruan Yuan a number of Cantonese scholars. Besides Chen Li, who was cited by Hiromu Momose in Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period as perhaps "the most brilliant among a group of Cantonese scholars who developed eclectic theories mid-way between Sung Neo-Confucianism and the School of Han Learning," the others included Lin Botun, Wu Lanxiu, Ma Fuan, and Xu Rong, Tan Rong from Nanhai, who had passed the provincial examination in 1824 and had been appointed to the Xue hai tang by Ruan Yuan but had chosen not to take the metropolitan examination, nevertheless persuaded his friends, the Wu Family hong merchants, to print the large collectanea, Yue ya tang cong shu, consisting of 180 titles. It is disappointing that the personalities and idiosyncrasies of these scholars cannot be discerned from reading their writings. Employing the techniques of detective novelists by investigating whatever might be construed as clues that come my way, I have been able to reconstruct the person of Ruan Yuan to a certain extent, but the scholars around him have completely eluded my attempts. They were not easy prey. Neither were they easy to manage. At times their eccentricities hindered progress of Ruan's work. The completion of Shi san jing zhu shu fu jiao kan ji was delayed considerably because of personality conflict among the compilers. The idea for such a project had originated with Lu Wen chao (1717-1796), a scholar-official from Hangzhou who had spent a greater part of his time copying various old editions of the Classics by hand, noting the differences and printing the corrected texts. After Lu's death his student, Zang Rong, who was working on Jing ji zuan gu, persuaded Ruan Yuan to undertake the project to print the Jiao kan ji as well. In 1799, after consulting his staff, a much more ambitious project became envisaged, to print the Thirteen Classics together with all the notations throughout the ages. Being then Governor of Zhejiang with resources at his command, Ruan Yuan asked Duan Yucai (1735-1815), a Classicist with expertise in etymology and phonetics, to take on the responsibility as editor. Considering the task too arduous for a single man, Duan recommended his friend Gu Guangchi (1776-1835) to share the work. Gu, in turn, brought other scholars. 33 Page 75 Page 76 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 60 Governor-General of Yunnan & Guizhou Kunming 2A 1816-1835 Assistant Examiner of Metropolitan Exam Beijing 1833 Assistant Grand Secretary Kunming 1B & Peking Grand Secretary in charge of Board of War Beijing 1A 1835/3 Acting President of the Censurate Beijing 1835/10 Reader, Palace Examination Beijing 1836 Senior Professor (Hanlin Academy) Beijing 1836 Appendix 2 Ruan Yuan's Major Works and Compilations Kao gong ji ju zhi tu jie 考工記車制圖解 Shi qu sui bi 石渠隨筆 Yi li shi jing kan ji 儀禮石經校勘記 Shandong xue zheng Ruan Yuntai shi tong sheng shu mu 山东学政阮芸台示童生书目 Shan zuo shi ke 山左石刻 Jingyin dao ren zhuan 淨因道人傳 Yunfeng zhi bei tu 云峰志碑图 Zhejiang shi ke 浙江詩課 Chong xiu piao zhong guan ji 重修剽中观记 Xiao cang lang bi tan 小滄浪筆談 Shan zuo jin shi zhi 山左金石志 Huai hai ying ling ji 淮海英靈集 Liangzhe yu xuan lu 兩浙輶軒錄 Ceng zi shi pian zhu shu 曾子十篇註疏 Wei yu shu shi sui bi zhu 魏餘蔬食隨筆注 Zhu cha xiao zhi 竹姹小志 Jing ji zuan gu bu yi 經籍纂詁補遺 Di jiu tu shuo 地球圖說 Guang ling shi shi 廣陵詩事 Chong xiu Hui ji Da yu ling miao bei ji 重修惠济大禹陵庙碑记 Ding xiang ting bi tan 定香亭筆談 Chong jian Yangzhou hui guan bei ming 重建扬州会馆碑铭 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 62 Yun nan tong zhi gao 雲南通志稿 選平樂府重建聖廟碑記 Xuan Ping lo fu chong jian sheng miao bei ji Ta xin shuo 塔性說 San jia shi bu yi 三家詩補遺 Wen xuan lou shu cang shu ji 文選樓書藏書記 Ba zhuan yin guan ke zhu ji 八轉吟館刻記 Bu bi tu shi 布幣圖識 A4 Ruan shi Chi gu zhai Han tong yin te 阮氏積古齋漢銅印得 Wen xuan lou cang bei 文選樓藏碑 Ruan wen da gong zhi shi hou jia shu 阮文達公致仕後家書 Han shi jing can zi 漢石經藏碑 Lang huan xian guan shi Ruan wen da gong zhi shi hou jia shu 阮文達公致仕後家書 Lun yu lun ren lun 論語論仁論 Meng zi lun ren lun NOTES Arthur F Wright, "Values, Roles, and Personalities” in Confucian Personalities, edited by Arthur F Wright and Denis Twitchett (Stanford 1962), 11 Ibid., 4 See Appendix 1 chronology of Ruan Yuan's government appointments and Appendix 2. Ruan Yuan's major works and compilations 4 Lyn Struve, "The Hsu Brothers and Semi-official Patronage of Scholars in the K'ang-hsi Period", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 42-231-266 (1982). R Kent Guy, The Emperor's Four Treasuries. Scholars and the State in the Late Ch'ien-lung Era, Harvard, 1987 Guy has inscribed "We await Ruan Yuan" on the front piece of my copy of his work Struve, 231 The three Xu Brothers were Xu Qian xue (1631-1694), Xue Bing yi (1633-1711), and Xu Yuan wen (1634-1691) Other officials who were patrons of scholars included Ye Fang ai (1629-1682), Song De yi (1622-1687), and Yu Guo zhu (d ca 1688), Struve, 232-239 7 Guy, 52 Guy had neglected to include the group Ruan Yuan had organized at the Gu Jing Jing she in Hangzhou earlier. A number of scholars from this group had followed Ruan throughout his official life from the late 1790s to the late 1830s for over 40 years I have opted to keep the Wade-Giles transliteration of the Guy original 8 Wang Jun-yi, “Kang Qian sheng shi yu Qian Jia xue pai — jian lun Qian Jia xue pai di liu pai ji chi ping jia" 清代乾嘉學派的流派及其評價 Qing shu yen jiu 4 342-366 (Beijing, 1986). Unless otherwise indicated, all translations into English in this paper are made by me 9 Qian Mu, Zhong guo jin san bai nian xue shu shi [A history of Chinese learning during the past 300 years], (Taipei edition, 1976), 478 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 10 [bid || 63 &£#* (The He You sheng, "Chen Lan Fu di xue shu ji chi yen yuan" [learning of Chen Lan Fu and its origins], Gu Gong Wen xian 2.4 (Taipei, 1971), 1-19. He's study on Ruan Yuan can also be found in "Ruan Yuan di jing xue ji chi zhi xue fang fa" [Classical scholarship of Ruan Yuan and his education policy], Gu Gong Wen xian 2:1:19-34 (1970). 12 Liang Chi chao, qing dai xue wen gai lun [A discourse on Qing learning], (1921, Taipei Commercial Press reprint, 1975), 22 13 Xiao Yi shan, ging dar tung shi [History of the Qing dynasty], (1935, Taipei Commercial Press reprint, 1976), 11 717. 14 Hu Shi, Dai Dong yuan di zhe xue [The philosophical studies of Dai Zheng], 138. 15 This is the only work of Ruan Yuan's that I have not been able to find. It was never printed because Ruan Yuan was not satisfied with the draft. The manuscript had been kept with Ruan Yuan's papers in his lifetime and subsequently disappeared. There was no indication whether it perished in the fires that destroyed the Ruan residence in Yangzhou in 1843, or that which burned down his studio, Wen xuan lou, in 1935. 16 Ruan Yuan himself, as well as contemporary and modern scholars, complain often of the many errors in this edition. Ruan Yuan gave the excuse of not having had time to proofread the manuscript himself. In fact, he had been receiving admonitions from the Jiaqing Emperor at that time that he was expending too much time and energy on scholarly activities instead of concentrating on the affairs of state. Gungzhong dang (Palace memorials) Jiaqing 017818 (1817/29). 17 This work was not printed during Ruan Yuan's lifetime, but is in Qing shi kao (Draft history of the Qing dynasty). 18 There are a large number of these biographies of individual scholars, not necessarily all Ruan Yuan, scattered throughout rare book collections in various libraries. Copies of the biographies are also among the Guo Shih Guan (Qing Historiography Office) documents in the National Palace Museum (Taipei). 19 For example, the Provincial Gazetteer of Fujian by Chen Shouchi, the Gazetteer of Yicheng by Liu Wenchi, and a new edition of the Gazetteer of the Prefecture of Yangzhou by Jiao Xun. 20 A contemporary print is in the collection of the Harvard-Yenching Library. 21 Struve, 233 22 Ruan Yuan, Ding Xiang ting bi ji [Informal notes from the Ding Xiang studio] 4:1b-2a. 23 [bid. 24 Ruan Heng, Ying zhou pi tan [Notes from Yingzhou] 1.4b; also Ruan Yuan, Yen jing shi ji [Notes written in the Yen jing studio] 11:8:8a. 24 Zhang Jian, et al, Let tang an zhu di zi ji [The life of Ruan Yuan as recorded by his sons and students] 1:19b. 26 The preface was dated 1804, but the work was not printed until later, in 1807 when the manuscript was finally acceptable to Ruan Yuan. 27 Preface of a work entitled Ji Gu Zhai Chong ding yi chi kuan shi, printed in 1853. A copy can be found in the Fu Ssu-nien Library of the Academia Sinica in Taipei. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1991 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/k356gt84j 101 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bai Hua. "Kulian." ("Bitter Love.'') Shiyue (October), September 1979. Barnet, A. Doak and Ralph N. Clough, eds. Modernizing China. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1986. Dietrich, Craig. People's China, a Brief History. Oxford, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1986. Dong, Mei, ed. Zhongmei guanxi ziliao xuanbian: 1971, 7-1981, 7 (Selected Documents Regarding Sino-American Relations: 1971, 7-1981, 7). Beijing: Shishi Press, 1982. Fairbank, John K. Chinabound. New York: Harper and Row, 1982. Goldstein, Martin E. American Foreign Policy: Drift or Decision. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1984. Guangming ribao (Guangming Daily). Guan, L. “Zai menghuan gongchang li" ("In the Mill of Nightmares"), Renmin ribao (Renmin Daily). 13 January 1980, p. 8. Hinton, Harold C., ed. The People's Republic of China, 1979-1984: A Documentary Survey. Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1986. Hsiung, James C., ed. Beyond China's Independent Foreign Policy. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1985. Hunt, Michael H. The Making of a Special Relationship: The United States and China to 1914. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983. Implementing Accord for Cultural Exchange in 1980 and 1981 under the Cultural Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States of America and the three subsequent accords. Index to Newspapers and Periodicals - Philosophy and Social Sciences. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 139 Three of the four lesser halls, though as large as the Jade Emperor Hall and Xu Hall or nearly so, are dedicated one to the Three Matrons of fertility and childcare; one hall to the wife of Xu, whose personal names were Heshi, known as the Palace of the Consort - Furen Gong - in which her image stands on the uppermost tier of three with the Lord of Time and his sixty minions, the Tai Sui, occupying the lower two tiers; a third hall to Guan Gong, the patron deity of loyalty and honour, and patron of soldiers; whilst the fourth hall, much smaller, is virtually empty apart from a single, small pottery image of a wealth god. This spread of cults within one temple is typical of the majority of the larger temples throughout Chinese communities. All of the images within the temple complex are of comparatively recent manufacture, certainly since the early 1980s. The original images were destroyed during the years 1949-1976, during one or more of the political campaigns against superstition or social reform, mostly during the first days of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 when the temple was gutted. Some of the new images have been well made, artistically finished in paint on plaster and concrete. Others are crude, poorly finished and eyesores for posterity. The image of Xu, however, is one of the better ones and far from crude workmanship. The grounds and halls on the day we were there in the Autumn of 1998 were seething with devotees, many of whom had travelled some distance to pay their respects to the deities. Long strings of firecrackers were being let off and amidst the deafening racket and the palls of smoke from these and burning offerings, the whole area was what Chinese know as re'nao, excitement and noise. Across the road, however, in the comparatively small, enclosed and dilapidated garden, silence reigned and not a soul was to be seen. On the far side of the square artificial lake in the centre of the garden is a lengthy row of small, weathered and battered modern images, all unnamed, which on closer examination appeared to be many of the emperors of China since time immemorial. A Nine Dragon Spirit Screen stretches out behind them. Of greater interest were the half a dozen small rooms, similar to horse boxes with half-doors, which lined the rest of the far side, each containing a small tableau of life-size simple and gaudily painted plaster and cement figures. These were identified as episodic scenes from the life of Xu, ranging from his miraculous birth, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 323 THE DRUNKEN DRAGON DANCE AND THE TAN GONG (TAM KUNG) FESTIVALS: NOTES ON THE RASKB VISIT TO MACAU, MAY 1997 GEOFFREY ROPER The eighth day of the fourth lunar month is an important date in the Chinese religious calendar. Principally it is Lord Buddha's birthday, and for that reason is soon to become a Hong Kong public holiday. In Macau, on a more local basis, it is also the date of the Drunken Dragon Dance Festival around the markets of central Macau and the Tan Gong (Tam Kung) Festival celebrations in Coloane Village, Coloane Island. It was with these two Festivals mainly in mind that a twenty-strong party from the Hong Kong Branch of the RAS, led by President Dan Waters, set off for Macau early on Wednesday, the 14th May (the date in the 1997 Western calendar). a.m., Preceded by Chinese opera performance the evening before, the initial Drunken Dragon Dance celebrations had already started by 8:30 by the time we arrived at the western end of the former Sao Domingos Market. The dragon heads and tails were being blessed by a Taoist priest outside the adjacent Guan Di (Kwan Tai) Temple and brought to life by the painting of eyes by invited VIPs. A golden flower with a red ribbon was tied around the head of each dancer - representing God's gift of energy for the dancing ahead. The scale of the festivities was somewhat smaller than the previous year, with humbler staging for the sponsors from the Macau Fish Merchants Association and restrictions on the free distribution of rice and vegetables to the public at the first market. The reason was disruption caused by building work, but most importantly, the Dance itself remained unchanged. The dragons, the dancers, and the dance itself are best seen in the illustrations (which were actually photographed by the author at the 1996 celebrations). Accompanied by a loud drumbeat, the group of about twenty male fish porters circled around and took turns in holding the wooden red and gold dragon heads and red and green tails. As ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2000 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/nk328168n 152 52 All sixty of the Taisui on their altar in the Fazhu Gong Temple Taipei. The two major deities, unconnected with Taisui, are Chunti Pusa top centre and Guan Yin Pusa bottom row centre. The inclusion of images of Chunti and Guan Yin has been noted in several temples but only in Taiwan. Page 195 Page 196 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g Carl Crow, 1883-1945 My friends, the Chinese. London: Hamish Hamilton. 1938. Fitzgerald, C. P., 1902- Communism takes China: how the revolution went Red. London: BPC, c1971. Franck, Harry Alverson Roving through Southern China. New York: Century, c1925. Geil, William Edgar A Yankee on the Yangtze: being a narrative of a journey from Shanghai through the Central Kingdom to Burma. New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904. Gottschang, Thomas R. Swallows and settlers: the great migration from north China to Manchuria. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, c2000. Gray, John Henry China: a history of the laws, manners, and customs of the people. London: Macmillan, c1878. 2 vols. Hobart, Alice Tisdale, 1882-1967 Oil for the lamps of China. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1934. Ho, Pui-yin. Dian di hua dang nian: Xiang-gang gong shui yi bai wu shi nian. Xiang-gang: Shang wu yin shu guan (Xiang-gang) you xian gong si, 2001. Ho, Pui-yin Water for a barren rock: 150 years of water supply in Hong Kong; [English translator, Lui Yuen Chung]. Hong Kong: Commercial Press, c2001. Honey, W.B. (William Bowyer) The ceramic art of China and other countries of the Far East. London: Faber, c1945. xlvi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 46 muddy plats, eventually reached the first "gun-house," as the crumbling fort was known to the Chinese. Finally, the passengers reached the Custom House and on to whatever accommodation they had reserved or could find in this very primitive European backwater. Chinese immigrants from Hainan, along with those from Fujian, Guangxi, and Guangdong, flocked down to the foreign colonies of south-east Asia. Though integrated into the greater Han Chinese population of Singapore and Penang, as well as within towns and cities in North Borneo, Java, and Sumatra, even today Hainanese have remained in one or two linguistic pockets, such as is to be found in the area of Rengam and Kluang in southern Malaysia. Only a few of all the Chinese temples visited in South-east Asia have been categorically identified as exclusively founded by Hainanese immigrants. Others, predominantly Hokkien, have a Hainanese altar stuck away in one corner, erected by the few local Hainanese, though two temples stood out, both in southern Malaysia, in which the images of the deities were predominantly uniquely Hainanese, though the temple custodians, the devotees, and the other images were all Hokkien. The picture gained from Hainanese staff and devotees in temples containing uniquely Hainanese images revealed the following minimum of temples being predominantly, if not entirely, Hainanese - six in Singapore, two in Penang, one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Seremban, and two in or near Kluang in southern Malaysia; on Sumatra, one in Medan and two in Palembang; on Java, one in Jakarta, one in Cirebon, and one in Semarang. There are several in Ha Tien in southern Cambodia and others scattered across southern Thailand. The strangest of all was the lone, small Hainanese temple on Bali. Hainanese temple altars bear the usual accoutrements and have the same layout as altars in other Chinese communities, though, to generalise, with less clutter, particularly on altars in Hainanese Huiguan [community club houses]. Major China-wide deities, such as Guan Yin, Guan Gong, Hua Guang, City Gods, Earth Gods, and the Wealth Gods, are the same as in every Chinese community. There are also a number of predominantly Cantonese, Chaozhou, and even Minnan deities in many of the Hainanese temples both in Hainan and in South-east Asia, adopted from other immigrant ethnic groups, including Jinhua Niangniang, Caibo Xingjun, Fazhu Gong, Qi Tian Da Sheng, Longwei. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 48 between Han ethnic groups but also both inter-ethnic fratricide and distrust, prevented legends of one ethnic group about their deities being passed to another. The stories of the minority Hainanese are therefore known to few non-Hainanese Chinese. Folk Religion Deities on Altars in Hainanese Community Temples Deities worshipped by Hainanese, both in their temples and on their household altars, can be categorised into eight groups: The first are the deities revered China-wide such as Guan Yin, Guan Gong, the City God, the Earth God, the Gods and Goddesses of Climate and Time and the patrons of trades and professions. As these are not uniquely Hainanese deities I will not refer to them again. There are two exceptions: the first is a deity identified as either the popular and frequently noted deity, the Thunder God, Lei Gong, or Lei Zu, the President of the Ministry of Thunder. He has been noted on two Singaporean Hainanese temple altars where he was only known as the Chief Leader of All the Heavens, Wantian Zhushi, His title was displayed on the temple list in two other Hainanese temples, one in Pontian in southern Malaysia, and the other near Kranji in northern Singapore. His image depicted him with his usual attributes a bird's beak, an axe or hammer held aloft and a chisel in his left hand. In one of the two temples, in Paya Lebar Crescent, he was riding either a tiger or a Qilin a mythical beast, and according to the temple custodian he is the only deity permitted to do so. He was identified by temple keepers as Lei Gong and his image co-located with that of Doutian Fushuai, said to be Lei Zu. However, in the other temple, at Rumba Bomba Circus, he was also portrayed astride what looks like an unusual tiger and here he was identified as Lei Zu. The second is Ma Zu Qiong, the Respected Mother of the Hainanese3. Although Tian Hou, the patron goddess of seafarers along the entire coast of China, is revered throughout Hainanese communities, she is also known in a number of Hainanese temples by this unique title. The usual title by which Tian Hou is known in most Hainanese temples is Nantian Shengniang Tian Hou, The Saintly Lady of the Southern Heavens, 南天聖娘天后. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 60 undimmed, and taking command of an army, first in face of a threatened invasion by the dreaded Huns of Central Asia, and again later, in AD 48, to pacify the wild aboriginal tribes of Hunan. However, he died during the campaign in Hunan. Reverend Henry15 referred to Fupo Jiangjun, as a Cantonese deity who had temples scattered along the vicinity of the Pearl and West Rivers where he was worshipped by boatmen and travellers. The reason for his popularity apparently was because it was widely believed that Fupo and his army had crossed the range between Hunan and Guangdong, conquering south China, using double-decker troop carrying boats to ferry his troops from the hinterland of Hunan to Guangzhou. The boats had to be portered across the mountains against all odds. 16 Mesny noted that a number of temples in Guangxi honouring Fupo had kept alive the memory of his martial deeds and exploits. A temple on the West River near the great rapids was striking for its perfect preservation. It was kept in repair, wrote Mesny, by boatmen who regarded the deity in some special manner. In Taiwan Ma Yuan is the main deity in some half a dozen temples where he is known as Fushun Jiangjun. c] The Great Emperor, the Plum Blossom Immortal, Mei Xian Dadi ★✩, is a minor Daoist cult Immortal whose image has only been noted on the altars of three temples, all within the Hainanese communities in Kranji, Singapore. His title however appears on the temple deity list together with other deities in five temples in southern Malaysia. Temple keepers agree that the Plum Blossom Immortal was a famous doctor who, according to a god carver, bore the personal name of Zhang Chuang, lived somewhere in China many centuries ago, and is now particularly revered by pregnant women who he protects from malignant forces. He also helps them by ensuring that the babes themselves are small and therefore do not cause any injury to the mother during birth. Images of the Plum Blossom Immortal have no unique characteristics and vary considerably from temple to temple. Two depict him seated, and at first glance looking somewhat like Guan Gong, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g dressed in robes and a scholar's tile cap. The eyes are rounder than those of Guan Gong and they have a pink face, though they are sitting holding an open book in the left hand as does Guan Gong. The other versions are, in general, standard seated scholar-officials, with black beards and holding, in one case a seal in his left hand, and in the others a sword or fly switch in his right. In four of the images he is wearing Daoist robes decorated with the bagua signs. In every temple his image is flanked by two anonymous military attendants. Images of the Plum Blossom Immortal have no unique characteristics and vary considerably from temple to temple. Two depict him seated, and at first glance looking somewhat like Guan Gong, dressed in robes and a scholar's tile cap. The eyes are rounder than those of Guan Gong and they have a pink face, though they are sitting holding an open book in the left hand as does Guan Gong. The other versions are, in general, standard seated scholar-officials, with black beards and holding, in one case a seal in his left hand, and in the others a sword or fly switch in his right. In four of the images he is wearing Daoist robes decorated with the bagua signs. In every temple his image is flanked by two anonymous military attendants. His festival is celebrated annually on the 20th of the ninth lunar month and his full title copied off one of the temple notice boards is Shangqing Sanwu Mei Xian Yuan Zhangui dongxian Zhang Dadi 上清三五梅仙院斬鬼洞仙張大帝, d] The Loyal and Fierce Marquis, Zhonglie Houwang 忠烈侯王, was a secondary image on the main altar in a rural hut-temple in Singapore. He was paired with Wenzhou Houwang 溫州侯王 and sat on an ornamental chair on Wenzhou Houwang's left hand side, holding in his right hand a jade-like sceptre identical with the one Wenzhou Houwang is holding in his right hand [May the State Prosper and the People Enjoy Peace]. Little was known about Zhonglie Houwang apart from a hazy memory from one of the temple elders that he had been a famous village headman many, many years earlier, his personal names now lost in time. e) A page in a loose-leaf book kept by the temple custodian in a small atap1 Hainanese temple in Lorong Ah Soo in Singapore listed the titles of the five deities [*] and nine minor spirits or aides [#] revered by devotees, some understood to be portrayed in image form on the temple altars whilst the majority were simply known by their titles and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 264 About two miles west of Zhenjiang railway station, on rising land, there was a temple called Xiu Wang Miao, the Temple of the Xiu Kings, dedicated to the memory of the Xiu dynasty of Nantang. Lu Xiufu [AD 1238 - 1279] was a native of Zhenjiang, and a statesman and military commander during the latter years of the Southern Song. He had been appointed to the Court of Imperial Family Affairs, a form of Minister of Protocol, during the reign of Song Gong Zong [ca 1276]. He is remembered as a man of integrity and a devoted Minister who, when the Mongols were on the point of capturing Hangzhou, was sent in an attempt to reach an accommodation with them. This ended in failure. The Court was persuaded by Wen Tianxiang [one of the Three Loyal Generals of the Song] that the imperial heirs should be sent to the coast of south China, to Fuzhou and later to Quanzhou to ensure their safety. The emperor and his mother were captured by the Mongols and taken to Beijing, whilst Lu followed the Court in its retreat to the south. Lu met up with Zhang Shijie [the third of the Three Loyal Generals of the Song] in Wenzhou to rally support for the imperial cause, but had to flee on south to Fuzhou where they joined the forces of Wen Tianxiang. The senior heir was enthroned in Fuzhou as the Song Jing Yan emperor. At this point, following a reorganisation, Zhang and Lu became deputies to Chen Yizhong, the Commissioner of Military Affairs and Grand Counsellor. The new emperor was forced to flee further and further south pursued by the Mongol forces until he reached the area of present day Kowloon where Lu Xiufu rejoined the force from Chaozhou. The Mongol fleet having captured Guangzhou destroyed the forces of Zhang Shijie thus driving the Song Court out to sea. A typhoon struck the fleeing Song fleet and even though the ship carrying the young emperor was sunk he was rescued but died from shock and exposure near the Leizhou peninsula in mid-1278. Lu and Zhang stood firmly against any talk of surrender and ensured that the younger heir, a boy of six, was made emperor. Zhang became the Junior Guardian whilst Lu was Grand Counsellor. The next year the Mongol forces having been reinforced compelled the last of the Song forces to attempt to escape. Lu is said to have committed suicide but the official records do not reveal how the last of the Song, the boy of seven, died. The popular version claims that Lu, the hero from Zhenjiang, leapt into the sea with the boy in his arms. An imperial hostelry, the Danyang Guan, was founded in Zhenjiang Page 330 Page 331 ================================================================================