Who are the four gods of wealth in Chinese folklore

The God of Wealth, as its name implies, is the god in charge of wealth. In Chinese mythology, the god of wealth appeared relatively late, the earliest god of wealth can be traced back to the Song Dynasty, which is related to the prosperity of commerce after the Song Dynasty. Moreover, the God of Wealth worshipped by the people is not only a specific person, according to its nature, there are the God of Wealth, the God of Partial Wealth and so on, and other gods and goddesses that are not the God of Wealth but are closely related to wealth are also not few. Customs about welcoming the God of Wealth are also quite different from each other, but in the final analysis, welcoming the God of Wealth is a good hope in people's hearts, to get rich and wealthy, can only rely on their own hands.

The origin of the God of Fortune

The God of Fortune in each of the positive God of Fortune, the God of Fortune of the civil and military is better known. The God of Wealth usually refers to Zhao Gongming and Guan Yu, while the God of Wealth is mostly Bikan and Fan Li. Among them, Zhao Gongming, the God of Wealth, is the most popular.

The origin of the God of Wealth--The earliest written record of Zhao Gongming's name is in the Jin Dynasty's Gan Bao's "The Book of Searching for Gods", in which he was a ghost general who specialized in extracting human lives on behalf of God. In the Yuan Dynasty, he appeared again as a plague god, but gradually transformed into a decent deity who could eliminate plagues and avoid disasters, and redress grievances.

In the Ming Dynasty's popular novel Fengshen Yanyi (The Enchantment of the Gods), Zhao Gongming was a general of the Shang Dynasty who assisted Wen Taishi in resisting the Zhou army's attack, and was killed by Jiang Ziya using the technique of loathing victory. He was appointed as the god of "Golden Dragon Ruyi Zheng Yi Dragon Tiger Xuan Tan Zhen Jun" on the God Sealing Platform, and was subordinate to four gods: Xiao Sheng (萧升), Cao Bao (曹宝), Chen Jiugong (陳九公), the Messenger of Fortune (招财使使者) and Yao Shao Si (姚少司). Among them, Chen Jiugong and Yao Shaosi were the disciples of Zhao Gongming, while Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao were Jiang Ziya's rivals who helped Jiang Ziya to collect Zhao Gongming's treasures. As the four gods under him are all rich in the meaning of the God of Wealth, the image of Zhao Gongming as the God of Wealth is y rooted in people's hearts.

In folklore, Zhao Gongming did what he wanted in his life, and with his good magic, he beat Jiang Ziya to death, but then his magic was broken, and he did not surrender before his death. The Emperor of Heaven, because of his faithfulness and his blindness, did not have a big or small eye for the people's wealth in the world, and so he was named "God of Fortune". His duty is to recover the debts owed by the world and to uphold justice. He is also responsible for the justice of the world's wealth. His subordinates, namely, the God of Treasure, the God of Najen, the God of Fortune, and the God of Profit, although their duties are not directly related to wealth, they are the only ones who can't get wealth through them. Therefore, he became the most important god of wealth among the people. In addition, Zhao Gongming is also a god in the Taoist god system, Taoist altars must be worshiped when building offerings to ask him to preside over the dedication to the gods of gold and silver treasures.

A little observation of the many restaurants will reveal that the stores worship Guan Gong, treating him as a god of wealth as well. In fact, Guan Yu is one of the many gods of wealth known for his fortitude and straightforwardness. His story can be said to be a household name, not only money is not involved, and even once hung up the seal of gold, a bit of anti-wealth tendency to abandon the treasure as worthless, although the character does not seem to be in charge of wealth god of wealth, but the image of Guan Gong is loved by the public, especially in the novels and various legends and stories of his loyalty and righteousness, but also for the general public for the work of the partner, the cooperation object of the requirements. Therefore, many businessmen not only regard the god Guan Gong as a god who manages money, but also as a guardian god who monitors integrity in business.

The Origin of the God of Wealth--Of all the gods of wealth, Fan Li, the Duke of Tao Zhu, is probably the one who has the most qualities of a god of wealth. Fan Li was a famous minister who assisted King Goujian of Yue at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. After he succeeded in destroying Wu, he resolutely left Goujian, who could not live in peace and happiness with him, and went into business in anonymity, first living in Qi, where he rapidly accumulated wealth because of his good management and decent business practices. But then to escape the exhaustion of reputation and dispersal of the family fortune, and then to the Tao State, the self-proclaimed Tao Zhu Gong, and soon re-accumulated far more than before the wealth, so the history of the most famous of the great rich. With the long history and legendary story, Fan Li was worshiped as the god of wealth by the later generations. Among the four gods of wealth, Fan Li has the closest relationship with wealth, and was the representative of the god of wealth for the rich during his lifetime. His attitude of being a good man and not obsessed with fame and fortune, as well as his skillful management techniques, were important factors for his worship as the God of Wealth.

Compared with Fan Li, Bi Gan was worshipped as the god of wealth because of his loyalty and righteousness. Bi Gan was a minister of the Shang Dynasty, because of his loyal advice to King Zhou, Daji designed to frame, falsely claiming that all saints have seven exquisite heart, to be King Zhou will be plucked out of the heart to watch, but unexpectedly plucked out the heart really has seven, but Bi Gan has died. Or Daji pretended to be sick, fraudulently claiming that she needed to obtain Bikan's seven-orifice Linglong heart as a medicine to get rid of the loyal officials in the court. He was upright in life and heartless in death, so he would not harbor prejudices of favoritism and was suitable as a deity to manage the distribution of wealth. Obviously, this is the ideal attribute of a god of wealth who is fair and upright, and it also shows the general public's desire for a fair distribution of wealth.

The God of Wealth is mostly seen in folk sculptures and woodblock prints, and most of them are decorated with brocade clothes, crowns and boots, with white faces and smiles, which are suitable for the New Year festivities and for hanging in the halls.

Folk favorites - the Immortal Official of Profit and the Star God of Wealth. As mentioned earlier, one of Zhao Gongming's generals, Yao Shaoji, is far more popular among the people than his three generals. Many of the portraits of the God of Wealth are not limited to Zhao, Guan, Bi and Fan, all of them are accompanied by Li Shi Xianjun, or even only Li Shi Xianjun appears alone. Although he was only a general of the God of Wealth, his name was so auspicious that he won the hearts of many people who dreamed of making a fortune. This is not due to his own deeds, but rather to the fact that his title is very close to the hearts of the people.

Another favorite god was the Star God of Wealth and Possessions, who was worshipped as the "God of Wealth and Possessions". This is the star of wealth is the ancestor of the banking industry, the end of the Yuan and early Ming Dynasty, the rich Shen San. It was said that he had a "Treasure Pot" which constantly produced gold, silver and jewels. At that time, when Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build a country, he asked for his help because he was short of money, and finally accomplished the great cause of building a country. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang named him as the "Minister of Finance", in charge of the country's finances. Later on, the Emperor of Heaven named him "Star King of Fortune and Palm", and he had two assistants under him, "Child of Fortune" and "Guide to the Heavenly Palace". Therefore, in the folk New Year's paintings, there are often this person elegant and extraordinary, white face and long beard, the left hand holds "Ruyi", the right hand holds "Treasure Pot", written in the portrait of "attracting wealth and treasures", generally engaged in Buy and sell, stocks, bankers

Five Roads God of Wealth - in folklore, there are five Roads God of Wealth. Generally speaking, the Five Roads God of Wealth refers to Zhao Gongming and his four righteous brothers (or ministers). Except for Zhao Gongming, the God of Wealth in the middle road, the other four roads are Xiao Sheng, the God of Wealth in the east road; Cao Bao, the God of Wealth in the west road; Chen Jiugong, the God of Wealth in the south road, the Messenger of Wealth; and Yao Shaosi, the God of Wealth in the north road, the Immortal of Profit and Market. This may be influenced by the concept of the five elements that heaven and earth are vast, of course, treasure should also be handled in different areas. Worship five-way God of Wealth, is to collect all the wealth of the five sides of the southeast, west, north and west of the meaning.

In addition to this, there are also, Wu, Yi, Fu, the five ways of the God of Wealth. In addition to the God of Fortune Bigan, the God of Fortune Zhao Gongming two road, Guan Gong because hanging seal seal gold a mediocre not to take, is honored as the God of Fortune of righteousness, and the God of Fortune of martial arts is clearly delineated. Shen Wansan, a wealthy man in the early Ming Dynasty, was worshipped as the God of Wealth. The earliest to Southeast Asia for business, known as "Dabo Gong", "Land Gong" of the overseas Chinese Su Fulu, due to the opening of remote areas of the benefits, as the duties of the "remote" far from the wealth of the God of Partial Fortune, Partial The God of Wealth is not exclusively to take wealth by the way, so Wen, Wu, righteousness, wealth, and the five ways can be counted as the God of Wealth.

Welcome the origin of the God of Wealth

The custom of "welcoming the God of Wealth" on the fifth day of the first month of the Lunar Calendar was prevalent in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China, and has been passed down to folklore. The "God of Wealth" refers to Zhao Gongming. Because of its command has a treasure Heavenly Father, Najin Heavenly Father, the messenger of wealth, profit fairy officer four members of the small gods for its call. Blessed with this set of fortune-telling team, he became the object of worship for those who hoped to get rich. Legend has it that Zhao Gongming often lazy and scattered, only in the first month of the year on the fifth day to go down the Dragon Tiger Xuan Tan once, and is arbitrary, not to which one, so in the old days people are in the early morning firecrackers, incense offerings, grabbing the front to meet him. In the old days, the general store on New Year's Eve after business will be put on annual leave, to the fifth to take over the God of Fortune, before opening for business, known as the beginning of the disk.

In addition, some people have inquired about the god's birthday is the lunar calendar July 22, and therefore do not go to roll the first five of the "fierce", but instead in the "God of Fortune Birthday" quietly prepared to do the feast, counting on him to come in through the back door to enjoy. In Taoist legend, the God of Fortune Zhao Gongming God's birthday for the March 15 (also known as the second day of the first month), Taoists more than God's birthday to the Taoist temple in the worship of the God of Fortune, praying for a bumper crop, the source of prosperity.

In addition to "welcome the God of Wealth", some places have "send the God of Wealth" custom. There is only one God of Fortune, plus four subordinates only made up a number of palms, want to get rich but there are so many people, the supply is not enough to meet the demand is obvious, so there are people who take the initiative to balance the supply and demand contradiction, which led to a picture of a new custom - "send the God of Fortune". Every first five days, the poor beggars in groups of three or five, wearing masks, dressed as the God of Fortune bottom, known as "send God of Fortune", also known as "jumping God of Fortune". The main case must be sent on the spot to pay thanks to the money, otherwise they will be in front of your home or store before the non-stop. Poor people pretend to live God of Wealth, robbing God of Wealth into sending God of Wealth, this street farce full of irony, but also a lot of extra fun to welcome the God of Wealth customs. In recent years, the scene of jumping in groups to "send the god of wealth" has been rare.

Zhao Gongming

The origin and function of the God of Wealth: There is a distinction between the God of Wealth and the God of Wealth. Today's Taoist temples and temples in the God of Wealth statue, mostly black face, thick beard, riding a black tiger, a hand holding a silver whip, a hand holding a treasure, full military attire. The God of Wealth statue when the God of Wealth, that is, Zhao Gongyuan Shuai statue. Zhao Gongyuan Shuai, that is, Zhao Gongming, Zhao Xuan Tan. Wei Jin and the North and South Dynasties period of the book "So Shen Ji" and "Zhen Gui", etc., there are Zhao Gongming's deity, but only the Secretary of the earth under the mound, or the plague god. Between the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Zhao Gongming's miracles were fully documented, saying that Zhao Gongshuai's family name was Zhao Lang, Xuan Lang, the word Gongming, and he was a native of Zhanshan Mountain. Originally, he was one of the sun spirits. In ancient times, there were nine days in the sky, and after the nine days were shot down by Hou Yi, they changed into nine birds, which landed on Mount Qingcheng and became the King of Nine Ghosts. The eight ghosts were sick and harmed people, but Zhao Xuanlang transformed himself into a human being and hid in the middle of Shu, practicing Taoism. When Zhang Ling was making pills on Mount Qingcheng, he took Zhao Xuanlang to guard the pills room. When the elixir was completed, the celestial master gave it to him as bait, and he was able to change his mind in a variety of ways. After Zhao Xuanlang ate the dan, his shape resembled that of the Tianshi. The Heavenly Master ordered Zhao Xuanlang to guard the Xuan Tan forever, so he was called the Xuan Tan Marshal. According to The Complete Book of Searching for Gods and Goddesses of the Three Religions, Zhao Xuanlang was able to "drive away thunder and electricity, call for rain and wind, get rid of pestilence and malaria, and protect against diseases and avoid calamities", and "if there is a lawsuit for the redress of grievances, Zhao Xuanlang is able to make an explanation of it, and if there is a fair sale of goods, Zhao Xuanlang is able to make it profitable and harmonious. But if there is any fairness, one can pray to the gods, and there is nothing that is not as good as what one wants". The Ming Dynasty novel "Feudal Yanyi" has a section of Jiang Ziya sealing of the gods, Zhao Gongming as the Golden Dragon Ruyi Zheng Yi Dragon Tiger Xuan Tan Zhenjun, led by Zhaobao Tianzun, Najin Tianzun, Zhaocai Messenger and Lixi Xianguan, etc., in charge of all the gold, silver and treasures in the human world. In addition to Zhao Gongyuanshuai, there are also folk Guan Di and the Ming Dynasty Wuxi Imperial City He Wulu killed in battle as the God of Wealth.

Sacrifice: In the old days, the God of Wealth Zhao Gongming God's Birthday for the 15th of March (also known as the second day of the first month), Taoists are more in the God's Birthday to worship the God of Wealth in the Taoist temple, praying for the five cereals, wealth and prosperity. However, according to folklore, on the fifth day of the first month, the God of Wealth descends to the earth and patrols the world, therefore, the folk more early in the morning on the fifth day of firecrackers, lion dances, commonly known as the "God of Wealth," praying for the Spring Festival after the opening of the market is very lucky, and the money is rolling in.