Who is the God of Wealth in China?

Chinese God of Wealth Culture

Lucite window, vermilion lacquer door, the hall is dedicated to the Great God of Wealth; the Great God of Wealth, out of the mortal world, three gatherings and three scatterings of the Yue Wangchen; the Yue Wangchen, the rich and noble body, holding a treasure bowl; the treasure bowl, the world is known to the whole world, the source of wealth is full of Qiankun; ......-

From the folk New Year's paintings, the most widely circulated image of the God of Wealth is generally three, one riding a black tiger, holding a silver whip, helmet, armor, is the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming, the other is known as Guan Di.

However, it is the third God of Wealth, with a long white face, long beard, and gentle manners, who is most often depicted in traditional Chinese New Year's paintings, with his brocade coat and jade belt, crown and boots. His most notable mark is: a smile, a hand holding the "Ruyi", the body of the "Treasure Pot", often "fortune" "into the treasure "This is one of the most popular ways of making money in the world. This is also from ancient times to the present, the appearance of the earliest years, the most worshipped image of the God of Wealth.

The God of Wealth in the Talking Books

The God of Wealth has not been a god of wealth for a long time, and although Zhao Gongming has been depicted as early as the Wei, Jin, and North and South Dynasties in the book "Searching for the Divine" and "The True Enlightenment," at that time he was only a god of the "earth under the graveyard" or the god of the plague. This may be the reason why people often say, "Mistaking the God of Plague for the God of Wealth".

The end of the Ming Dynasty, the book (used by storytellers) "The Enchantment of the Gods", a section of Jiang Ziya's sealing of the gods, Zhao Gongming as "Golden Dragon Ruyi is the Dragon and Tiger Xuan Tan Zhenjun", in charge of all the world's gold and silver treasures. With the popularization of printing in China and the popularity of folk artists, the book quickly became a household name, and since then, Zhao Gongming has become widely known as the God of Wealth.

So, historically speaking, it can be said that Zhao Gongming is "a god of wealth created by a successful playbook".

The God of Wealth in the Qing Dynasty

Guan Yu was famous for his loyalty and righteousness, and was always a model for the emperors and kings who "ruled by Confucianism". This trend has intensified since the Song Dynasty.

Song Huizong Chongning first year (1102 years) as Zhonghui Gong, Xuanhe five years (1123 years) and was named the king of righteousness and courage Wuan. The Yuan Dynasty as a king of the spirit of righteousness and courage Wu'an Yingji. The beginning of the Ming dynasty for the Guan Zhuang Mu Gong, and Yue Fei with the same sacrifice, all over the martial arts temple called Guan Yue Temple. Wanli thirty-three years (1605) as the three worlds of voodoo great emperor, God's might far Zhentianzun, Guan Sheng Di Jun ......

The early years of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, the old ministers deliberately strengthened Guan Di's loyalty, civil secret party organizations, more Guan Di's loyalty as a spiritual bond of the party, the sharp edge of direct finger to the foreigners of the time.

In order to gather people's hearts and minds, the Qing Dynasty in the first year of the Shunzhi Royal Edict of Guan Gong as the "loyalty and righteousness of Shenwu Guan Sheng Da Di". In the fifth year of the Kangxi period (1666), he was also named "Zhongyi Shenwu Lingyou Renyong Weixian Guansheng Da Di", and the monument was erected in Guanlin, Luoyang.

At the same time, the Qing dynasty deliberately diluted the original connotation of Guan Di, in the folk through cultural guidance, and gradually and consciously regarded as the god of martial arts, the god of wealth and justice, the Secretary of the Luk Kexue, to remove disasters and illnesses, exorcism, to ward off evil spirits, punishment and punishment of treason, the inspector of the Department of the underworld, sheltering the merchants and businessmen, the smooth source of wealth, the decision to resolve the difficult and so on, and finally fixed for the god of martial arts and wealth.

The origin and flow of the culture of the god of wealth

From the origin, both Zhao Gongming and Guan Di have nothing to do with wealth in their lives, and the reason why they became the god of wealth is that besides the powerful spreading function of the literature of the "talking book", the ideological motivation of the rulers is particularly important:

Whether it is Guan Di or the god of wealth in the "Fen Shen Yan Yi", the god of wealth in the "Fen Shen Yan Yi", the god of wealth in the "Fen Shen Yan Yi", is the god of wealth.

Whether it was Guan Di or Zhao Gongming, who "aided and abetted the evil-doer" in the "Enchantment of the Gods," who was martyred as a general, their "loyalty" was precisely what the ruling class needed the most, "the way of discipline.

On the contrary, another God of Wealth, although "home is to a thousand gold, the official is to the minister", but he is regarded as fame as dung, depending on the money as nothing, as the emperor's backbone of the ministers, the great cause of the early completion of the "sails far away", as the rich and wealthy party As a rich merchant, but several times all scattered thousands of gold, the world's poor, just like the second savior, all of this, never the emperor sought. Therefore his origins are often deliberately downplayed by successive emperors.

In China's modern history, the far-reaching influence of merchants, especially Zhejiang, Suzhou, Anhui, Jin, including the world-famous "Ning Shao Gang", in the Qing dynasty deliberately promote the "God of Wealth," Zhao Gongming and Guan Di's historical background, simply rehashed! "God of Wealth" of the business saint name, worship, folk people to "God of Wealth" of the name of the crown.