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Ch'Eng-Huang
God of moats and walls. Every village and town had its own Ch'eng-Huang, most often a local dignitary or important person who had died and been promoted to godhood. His divine status was revealed in dreams, though the gods made the actual decision. Ch'eng-Huang not only protects the community from attack but sees to it that the King of the Dead does not take any soul from his jurisdiction without proper authority. Ch'eng-Huang also exposes evil-doers in the community itself, usually through dreams.
Chu Jung
God of fire. Chu Jung punishes those who break the laws of heaven. Emdodies justice, revenge, death, and the element of fire.
Erh-Lang
Chinese god who chased away evil spirits, the great restorer, the sustainer. He is invoked for protection.
Feng-Po-Po
Chinese goddess of the winds, she replaced Feng-Po. She symbolizes the elements of air and water, storms, precipitation and moisture.
Fu-Hsi
Chinese god of agriculture/vegetation and inventor of writing.
Fu-Hsing
Chinese god of happiness. His sacred animal was the bat. Symbolizes destiny, fate, love, happiness, and success.
Hou-chi
Chinese god of harvest and agriculture. Depicted as a kindly old man with stalks growing from his scalp.
Hsuan-T'ien-Shang-Ti
Chinese god who removes demons and evil spirits. Invoke for exorcism, matters involving water.
Hu-Tu
Chinese earth goddess, similar to gaia, the deification of the earth. Patroness of fertility, element is earth.
Kuan Ti
God of war. The Great Judge who protects the people from injustice and evil spirits. A red-faced god dressed always in green. An oracle. Kuan Ti was an actual historical figure, a general of the Han dynasty renowned for his skill as a warrior and his justness as a ruler. There were more than 1600 temples dedicated to Kuan Ti.
Kuan Yin
One of the most loved Chinese goddesses. It is said that her name brings protection and relief when it is simply spoken.
Before she was a goddess, she was the daughter of a cruel father. When she refused to marry into wealth like her sisters, she was sent to a temple where she was made to perform the most difficult of tasks. Birds, snakes, and tigers had pity on her and came to her aid. But her father was angered that she had not given in and married, so he first tried to burn her to death. However, she put out the fire with her hands.
When he finally did kill her, she was sent to the underworld. But she recited the words out of holy books, and the god of the dead was upset because he could not make them suffer while she was there. Frustrated, he sent her back to earth, where the Buddha made her immortal and rewarded her with great insight. She became a goddess of mercy and compassion.
Kwan Yin
Goddess of mercy and compassion. A lady dressed in white seated on a lotus and holding an infant. Murdered by her father, she recited the holy books when she arrived in Hell, and the ruler of the underworld could not make the dead souls suffer. The disgruntled god sent her back to the world of the living, where Kwan Yin attained great spiritual insight and was rewarded with immortality by the Buddha. A popular goddess, Kwan Yin's temple at the Mount of the Wondrous Peak was ever filled with a throng of pilgrims shaking rattles and setting off firecrackers to get her attention.
Lei Kum
God of retribution and thunder. Lei Kung has the head of a bird, wings, claws and blue skin, and his chariot is drawn by six boys. Lei Kung makes thunder with his hammer, and his wife makes lightning with her mirrors. Lei Kung chases away evil spirits and punishes criminals whose crimes have gone undetected.
Nu Kua
Chinese goddess who created mankind. She was very powerful, half human and half serpent. She is associated with rain, ponds, pools, and moist creatures near such areas such as amphibians and fish.
P'An-Chein-Lien
Goddess of prostitutes. As a mortal, she was a widow who was much too liberal and inventive with her favors, and her father-in-law killed her. In death she was honored by her more professional associates and eventually became the goddess of whores.
Phan Ku
Chinese creator god who formed the mountains, valleys, oceans, and rivers on the earth. When he died, his skull became the sky, his breath became the wind, his voice thunder, his earms and legs the four cardinal direction, his flesh the soil, and his blood the rivers. Then the fleas in his hair became human beings.
Pi-Hsai Yuan Chin
Chinese goddess of childbirth and labor; she brings health and good fortune to the newborn and protection to the mother.
Ti-Tsang Wang
God of mercy. Wandering in the caverns of Hell, a lost soul might encounter a smiling monk whose path is illuminated by a shining pearl and whose staff is decorated with metal rings which chime like bells. This is Ti-Tsang Wang, who will do all he can to help the soul escape hell and even to put an end to his eternal round of death and rebirth. Long ago, Ti-Tsang Wang renounced Nirvana so that he could search the dark regions of Hell for souls to save from the kings of the ten hells. Once a priest of Brahma, he converted to Buddhism and himself became a Buddha with special authority over the souls of the dead.
Tsao Wang
God of the hearth. Every household has its own Tsao Wang. Every year the hearth god reports on the family to the Jade Emperor, and the family has good or bad luck during the coming year according to his report. The hearth god's wife records every word spoken by every member of the family. A paper image represents the hearth god and his wife, and incense is burned to them daily. When the time came to make his report to the Jade Emperor, sweetmeats were placed in his mouth, the paper was burned, and firecrackers were lit to speed him on his way.
T'Shai-Shen
God of wealth who presides over a vast bureaucracy with many minor deities under his authority. A majestic figure robed in exquisite silks. T'shai-Shen is quite a popular god; even atheists worship him.
Yu-Huang-Shang-Ti
Father Heaven - e August Supreme Emperor of Jade, whose court is in the highest level of heaven, originally a sky god. The Jade Emperor made men, fashioning them from clay. His heavenly court resembles the earthly court in all ways, having an army, a bureaucracy, a royal family and parasitical courtiers. The Jade Emperor's rule is orderly and without caprice. The seasons come and go as they should, yin is balanced with yang, good is rewarded and evil is punished. As time went on, the Jade Emperor became more and more remote to men, and it became customary to approach him through his doorkeeper, the Transcendental Dignitary. The Jade Emperor sees and hears everything; even the softest whisper is as loud as thunder to the Jade Emperor.
8 Immortals
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