RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h THREE CHINESE DEITIES 177 In Chinese communities in Malaya and Cambodia, T'ai Sui is prayed to for rain, good crops, fine weather and for all the usual hopes of farmers. Also in South East Asia he is presented with offerings 30 days after the safe birth of a child, to ensure that its full life span had been pre-ordained. Alternative names and titles a. Yin Yuan Shuai (陰元帥) Generalissimo Yin b. Yin Tien Chün (陰天君) Heavenly Master Yin c. d. Yin Ing No (characters unknown) (Ch'ao Chow speakers) T'ai Sui Ye (太歲爺) e. Tai Sui Ti Chün (太歲帝君) Emperor Tai Sui す。 Ta Sheng (大聖) The “Great Life,” a nickname in Malacca. g. Chin Ting Nu (真定奴) His name whilst living with the h. hermits Marshal Yin T'ai Sui (陰太歲) One of the 36 escorting heavenly masters.* Feast Days The only identifiable feast date was one given on four separate occasions, three in present day Malaya and one in Shanghai in 1871, the nineteenth of the seventh lunar month. He was officially sacrificed to on the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Temple of Heaven in Peking. Descriptions of characteristics of T'ai Sui and Yin Ch'iao There are eight basic forms of this deity: a. as a shaven headed youth with a tonsure, in Buddhist monk's robes and sandals, holding either: b. (1) a scroll or split-bamboo plaque in both hands (2) a bell in his right hand (3) his empty right hand above his head, as though holding a raised sword. (4) seated with his hands on his knees as an elderly man in Mandarin's robes: (1) seated with both hands on his knees or (2) holding a bell in his right hand 5 Doré, Father Henri, Recherches sur les superstitions en Chine, (Shanghai 1914-1929, 15 vols.) 6 Grootaers, W. A. Chahar, Peking, Catholic University, Monumenta Serica, 1948). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h 184 d. KEITH STEVENS An image in the form of Yin Ch'iao; with six arms, a blue face covered in spots like warts; two fangs, two banners, a bell, two swords and one arrow. Possible Misidentifications The images of Yin Ch'iao/T'ai Sui can be confused with several deities who have similar characteristics. These are: a. One version of the Fukienese god of actors, Tien T’o Yuan Shuai (*), is a standing general with a sword in his right hand and a hand bell in his left. He has or should have, however, a pink face, and his usual identifying characteristic, a crab painted over his mouth or his forehead. b. In a Singapore Foochow clan temple of the Hsu (✯) family there is a seated general in armour, with a blue face and fangs, called Liu Chin Sheng Ho (Hr). He holds an axe in each hand and is prayed to for the good health of the clan and for the rapid recovery of the sick. c. Pu Tu Kung (#2) who releases souls from the Under-world during the seventh lunar month, is often shown as blue-faced and with two fang-like teeth showing. Normally, however, he does not carry anything in his two hands. d. One of the two attendants of Fa Chu Kung (✯È2) is a general with a sword raised in his left hand and a handbell held in his right. He wears a tiger's head hat and is called Hu Ye (A). He has a pink face and a black beard. An image of the Golden Youth (✯✯), one of the assistants to Kuan Yin, could be mistaken under certain conditions with the manifestations of T'ai Sui as a seated youth with the scroll. The Golden Youth has a similar seated pose, the same style head and hair but normally holds a fly whisk in the right hand. If this is lost the image looks at first glance like a T'ai Sui without a scroll. The Indian Buddhist deity of death, Mara, could understandably be mistaken for T'ai Sui, Mara (A) in his Chinese form normally has a greenish hue, has a frightful face with two tusk-like teeth, holds a bell in his right hand, but has bare feet, is bare to the waist and wears a fur skirt. He is usually accompanied by two demon attendants, one black and one white, who are the Yamen runners, the Wu Ch'ang Kuei (❀❀Ą), who collect the souls of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h THREE CHINESE DEITIES 195 to stay; and as no disaster befell either the town or those who remained, Cheng Ho's reputation was further enhanced. In the more serious lawsuits amongst Chinese in Semarang, Chinese witnesses may be required to take their oaths before Cheng Ho's statue and, before his altar, to "drink the ashes" from the incense urn mixed with water. In the Philippines one Chinese culture hero called Pun Tou Kung () is venerated by both the Hakka and Ch'aochow (Teochew) emigrants. In the Philippines he is said to have been a crew member on one of the voyages of Cheng Ho. He went ashore at Jolo, where he died, and his grave, now a place of miracles, is where he is prayed to for protection. During the shelling of Jolo by the Spanish naval forces in the late nineteenth century the preservation of the Chinese quarter of the town was ascribed to his protective powers. Another version is that he landed at Jolo from Cheng Ho's fleet, remained there, raised a large family and now the majority of the Chinese in the area are descended from him. This same Pun Tou Kung is worshipped under various names in most places in South East Asia by emigrant Chinese as a god of wealth. In most places in Malaya and Singapore he is called Tai Po Kung (62) and is believed to be a former tin miner. In Thailand he is also called Pan To Kung (2). Deity titles likely to be confused with Cheng Ho Cheng Ho's title should not be confused with the titles of the Buddhist trinity, San Pao (E) and San Pao Ye (T); with another Chinese protective deity San Pao Kung Kung (222); nor with San Pao T'a Shen (TAP). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 190 MICHAEL SMITHIES the plots are largely traditional stories of love, transubstantiation and the magical. The music is strident and the voices, singing rhyming couplets, not without beauty. Not as lively as the Burmese pwe (the Thai version of which is the likay), the hoon krabawk is an interesting dramatic art which deserves to survive the rival but mundane attractions of the cinema and television. The vestiges of the early Mon can be explored further by visiting the ancient sites of Sri Thep and Lampoon (the old Haripunchai) in Thailand and their present situation seen in villages in the Laadgrabang and Prapadaeng areas near Bangkok or, if one could get there, in lower Burma in the Ye or Kyaikkami (Amherst) district. As a theme on which to build a visit to Burma with an extension in Bangkok the Mons, with their distinguished cultural past, may start as an excuse but become a justification; they established the earliest kingdoms in the mainland Southeast Asian region, were the first to be Buddhist and gave their religion to the incoming Burmese, Thai and Lao peoples, and built the earliest surviving religious shrines. Their influence can still be seen in the Buddhism of the region and in the use of the Burmese script. If today they are dispersed, dispossessed and disappearing, they have a noble place in antiquity. Yogyakarta, January 1976. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 SHIWAN POTTERY EXPLORED 111 such as Lu Xun (§i§) and Yang Kaihui, (#5 B♬*) and many types of workers and peasants. In 1962 the art theory of well-known potter Liu Quan was published in Mei Shu (), which greatly enhances the understanding of a designer's creation process. I regret that time does not permit more than the introduction of a few topics related to Shiwan pottery, but it is hoped that they are sufficient to stimulate the interest of the audience, whom I have no doubt will have further opportunity in the future to hear more about this fascinating artistic expression. NOTES 1 Nigel Cameron, "Second Thoughts on Shekwan”, South China Morning Post, Tuesday, October 18, (1977). 2 These discoveries were subsequently published in: Chen Zhiliang (***), “Guangdong Shiwan Gu Yao Zhi Diao Cha" (ARGZSEALJO✨), Kuo Gu (**), (1978) No. 3, pp. 195–199. 3 Li Jingkang (*), “Shiwan Tao Ye Kao” (*****), Guangdong Wen Wu {}£x#), (1941) Vol. 10: 39-47. 4 Xu Zhiheng (#2&), “Yin Liu Zhai Shuo Ci" (ABÜZ), Mei Shu Công Shu (*#*#), Shen Zhou Guo Guang She (®Æ*), (1947), Vol. 3, No. 6, pp. 159-160. 5 See Guangdong Wen Wu Zhan Lan Hui Chu Pin Mu Lu (ARXMAL**), Zhong Guo Wen Hua Xie Jin Hui, Xi Nan Tu Shu Yin Shua Gong Si (@ztbet, gå!***AJ), (1940); and photographs in Guangdong Wen Wu (A*X4b), (1941) Vol. 2, pp. 163-165. 6 "Guangdong Yangjiang Shiwan Cun Fa Xian Gu Dai Yao Zhi” (ARBELZHURLRED), Wen Wu Can Kao Ze Liao (24b4”**) (1955), No. 3, pp. 161-162. 7 Op. cit. Ref. 2. 8 "Gong Yi Ming Cheng Fushan" (ILM−84), Xin Fu (**), (February 1959), No. 39, pp. 34-37. 9 Yu Chengxian, editor, (**), Zhong Hua Tong Su Wen Zhang: Fushan Qin Si, (+$**$4ké), Xianggang Zhong Hua Shu Ju (✯#+4#5), (March, 1961). 10 Zhuang Jia (ƒ), “Yi Qi Bu Yi Zhi, Yi Cang Bu Yi Lou-Liu Quan Tao Su Jing Yen Jian Jie”(宜起不宜止,宜藏不宜露,一則傳陶塑經驗簡4) Mei Shu, (★#ƒ), (1962), No. 3, pp. 41 f. This theory is discussed more fully in: Fredrikke Skinsnes Scollard, "Destruction and Creation: The Impact of Revolution on Shekwan Pottery", Leverhulme Conference, University of Hong Kong, 1977, (In press). 11 Manuel da Silva Mendes, "Barros de Kuang Tung", Boletim do Instituto Luis de Camoes, (Outubro de 1967), Vol. 2, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 89 Northern Vietnam) he asked to be relieved of office and left the capital for Guangzhou. In 327 he settled in the Zhuming cave of Mt. Luofu where he busied himself collecting medicinal herbs and refining cinnabar. His extensive writings include several important treatises on Taoism and Chinese medicine. (Source: Zongjiao Cidian [Dictionary of religion], Shanghai, Cishu Chubanshe (Lexiographical publishing company), 1981, pp. 997-998; see also Jin Shu [The Book of Jin], volume 72, Zhonghua Shuju). Needham calls him "the greatest alchemist in Chinese history" (Science and Civilization in China, vol. II, Cambridge University Press, 1956, p. 437). 14 The story that Huang Yeren was late for the levitation because he was drunk, we heard from a young official of a local Taoist organization whom we interviewed in Guangzhou on August 27, 1987. Cultural affairs cadres whom we interviewed at the main temple on Mt. Luofu on August 28, 1987 indignantly denied this story. The young official also related the story that Huang Yeren (Huang the wild man) had originally been called Huang "also [in Cantonese “yah”] man” (in many Luofu folk-tales the Yeren is said to appear in the shape of an animal). Later the character for "also" (in Mandarin “ye”) had been substituted by that for "wild" (in Mandarin also "ye"). We have not found any documentary sources which confirm this information. 19 Michel, Soymié, "Le Lo-feou chan", 1954. Bulletin de l'école française d'Extrême-orient, Tome XLVIII (ler semestre), 1954, pp. 1-137, raises another possibility (see pp. 109-110): that the Yeren tradition is based on contacts in ancient times, possibly including periodic trading exchanges, between people of the plains of Guangdong and aborigines living on or near the mountain. In the eyes of the plainsmen, the aborigines would appear strange in many respects, especially in speech and appearance. Stories derived from these contacts might have become the basis for the Yeren legend. Supporting this interpretation, Soymié notes, is the fact that Yeren was thought to be able to appear as a man or a woman, a young person or an old person, and that Yeren is in fact a category of "strange person apparitions” rather than a single figure. Clearly, once such a flexible figure had become established in the popular imagination, sightings of almost anything on the mountain could feed into the growing folklore about Yeren. 16 Some stories of healings by Yeren are contained in Luofushan Fengwuzhi (Records of Mt. Luofu scenery), Guangdong Lüyou Chubanshe (Tourist affairs publishing co., 1984). This source also records the tradition that the cave of Yeren was guarded by a mute tiger. The chapter in which the healings are recorded is titled, "The earth-bound fairy riding on a mute tiger." 17 Source: Nanhan Shu (The book of Southern Han), Guangdong Renmin Chubanshe, 1981 (reprint), volume 17. This story was also related to Ragvald by scholars of the provincial Wenshi Guan (Research institute of culture and history) whom the first author interviewed in Guangzhou, September, 1987. 18 These details are in notes provided to the first author by the Wenshi Guan scholars (see previous footnote), and were evidently taken by them from an addition to the Nanhan Shu, titled Nanhan Shu Kao Yi (Collating the variants), volume 17. 19 We have not yet been able to verify the exact location of the temple, which apparently is called Huangxianweng miao (The temple of old saint Huang). There may be several other Huang Li temples in this region. 20 According to Nanhan Shu Kao Yi (volume 17) his original name may have been Wang rather than Huang. Evidently he changed his surname to Huang (in Canton... ================================================================================ 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 ================================================================================