Chinese gods: Who are they? Where did they come from? What do they do? Chinese folk religion is the underlying belief system of more than a billion Chinese people. Go into any Chinese home, office or restaurant and you will see altars, statues or paper 'good luck' images. And wherever there is a Chinese community there are temples and Earth God shrines. But what is the religion that makes sense of all these expressions of belief? How do these beliefs connect to Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism? Chinese Gods helps us understand the building blocks of this religion for which even the Chinese have no name - because the beliefs are so intertwined with language and culture they have no independent existence - and provides an in-depth analysis of 19 of the major gods of the Chinese pantheon.
Jonathan Chamberlain was brought up in Ireland and Hong Kong. After graduating in Social Anthropology at Sussex University, he returned to Hong Kong where he lived for many years as a teacher and writer.
Preface; Foreword by John Blofeld; Introduction; Fung-shui, Temples, Cities and Squares; Hsing T'ien Temple; From Myth to History; The Strange Case of Confucius; The Problem of Lao Tzu; Nature Cults, Alchemists and Gods; Ancestor Worship; Kuan Ti: God of War; Pak Tai: Emperor of the North; The Purple Planet; Kuan Yin: Hearer of Cries; Monkey: Great Sage Equal to Heaven; Na Cha: The Third Prince; Tin Hau: Queen of Heaven; Tam Kung: The Boy God; San Chou Niang-Niang: Mother of the Three Islands; The Jade Emperor; Pao Kung: Magistrate Pao; Hung Shing: Hung - The Holy One; Ts'ai Shen: God of Wealth; The Peach Blossom Girl: T'ao Hua Hsien Nu; Chang Hsien: The Immortal Chang; Lu Pan: Patron of Builders; Lei Kung: God of Thunder; Chung K'uei: The Exorcist; Wong Tai Sin: The Great Immortal Wong; The Cheung Chau Bun Festival; Glossary of Alternative Names and Spellings; Table of Dynasties.
The scope of this book is amazing - millennia of dynasties, the complex psyche of the world's most populous nation, the supernatural, anthropology, mythology, numerology, feng shui and all the other underpinnings of Greater China's disparate - but today, remarkably integrated - belief systems, including Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, nature cults and ancestor worship. For the Sinologist, this offering is akin to some imperial feast where one can gorge on anything within reach. And even for the casual reader, this is a hugely satisfying book.--Nick Walker "Bangkok Post"
