|
Shunfeng'er
Shunfeng'er is a Chinese sea and door god. He usually appears with Qianliyan as a guardian of the temples of the sea goddess Mazu. Name The name "Shunfeng'er" literally means "Wind Accompanying Ears" in reference to his ability to hear any sound carried upon the wind. The unusual idiom is translated variously as "Ears that Hear with the Wind", "Ears that Hear what Comes on the Wind", "Ears that Hear the Sounds Taken with the Wind", "Wind-Accompanying Ears", "Downwind Ears", or even "Sharp Ears", "Far-Hearing", or " All-Hearing". The god's role in helping sailors distinguish favorable winds also prompts the translations "Fair-Wind Ears" and "Favorable-Wind Ears". It also appears as . and His partner Qianliyan's name similarly means "Sharp-Eyed" or "All-Seeing". Under the Ming, Shunfeng'er was also known as ShiKuang. He is also sometimes known as Wanli'er, which has similar meaning, as the Chinese word ''wàn''—like the English "myriad"—simultaneously means the number 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qianliyan
Qianliyan is a Chinese sea and door god. He usually appears with Shunfeng'er as a guardian of the temples of the sea goddess Mazu. Name The name "Qianliyan" literally means "He of the Thousand- Mile" or "League Eyes" but may be taken more generally as "Hawkeye", "Lynx-Eyed",. "Far-Seeing", or even " All-Seeing" or " Clairvoyant". as a distance of 1,000 li was idiomatic in Chinese for any great distance. It also appears as . and His partner Shunfeng'er's name similarly means "Sharp-Eared" or "All-Hearing". Under the Ming, Qianliyan was also known as LiLou. History Qianliyan is first attested in the early-16th century novel '' Journey to the West'', where he appears as the personified form of the Taoist Jade Emperor's eyes and one of his lieutenants. There is, however, an earlier depiction of him in the caves of Shimen ''Shíménshān'') in Sichuan which has been dated to the Southern Song. The Chinese folk tale about the Ten Brothers also probably long predates i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mazu (goddess)
Mazu or Matsu is a Chinese sea goddess also known by several other names and titles. She is the deified form of the legendary figure Lin Mo or Lin Moniang, a Fujianese shamaness whose life span is traditionally dated from 960 to 987. Revered after her death as a tutelary deity of seafarers, including fishermen and sailors, her worship spread throughout China's coastal regions and overseas Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia and overseas, where some Mazuist temples are affiliated with famous Taiwanese temples. She was thought to roam the seas, protecting her believers through miraculous interventions. She is now generally regarded by her believers as a powerful and a benevolent Queen of Heaven. Mazu worship is popular in Taiwan as large numbers of early immigrants to Taiwan were Hoklo people; her temple festival is a major event in the country, with the largest celebrations around her temples at Dajia and Beigang. Names and titles In addition to Maz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Door God
Menshen or door gods are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu ( ) and Yulü () under the Han, but the deified generals Qin Shubao () and Yuchi Gong () have been more popular since the Tang. In cases where a door god is affixed to a single door, Wei Zheng or Zhong Kui is commonly used. History The gates and doors of Chinese houses have long received special ritual attention. Sacrifices to a door spirit are recorded as early as the '' Book of Rites''.. By the Han, this spirit had become the two gods Shenshu and Yulü, whose names or images were painted into peachwood and attached to doors. When the Great Ancestor of the Tang ("Emperor Taizong") being plagued by nightmares, he ordered portraits of his generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong to be affixed to gates. They eventually came to be considered divine protectors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten Brothers
''Ten Brothers'' () is a Chinese legend known to be written around the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644). It has been told and spun off in various adaptations and remains popular since it is one of the oldest Chinese legends to feature characters in a superhero fashion. Story The more modern version of the story has a couple swallow ten pearls and give birth to ten brothers. Each one of the ten brothers possesses a different supernatural power, though they develop their powers as the story progresses. At the end, the brothers battle some form of an antagonist and they only win when working in unity. However, if the ten brothers come into contact with limestone, their powers disappear and they become helpless. Characters The number of brothers varies among Chinese ethnicities. The Yi people have nine brothers, the Zhuang people have eight brothers, the Han people have five brothers and the Li people have 10 brothers. * ''1st and Oldest Brother'' - Capable of seeing miles aw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longde Temple , county in Ningxia, China
{{Disambig ...
Longde may refer to: *Longdé, one of three scriptural divisions within Dzogchen *Longde County Longde County (, Xiao'erjing: ﻟْﻮدْ ثِيًا) is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Guyuan in the south of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Longde County is located in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Song
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The dynasty is divided into two periods: Northern Song and Southern Song. During the Northern Song (; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now Eastern China. The Southern Song (; 1127–1279) refers to the period after the Song lost control of its northern half to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in the Jin–Song Wars. At that time, the Song court retreated south of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a concise maxim or saying. A fable differs from a parable in that the latter ''excludes'' animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind. Conversely, an animal tale specifically includes talking animals as characters. Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament, "" ("'' mythos''") was rendered by the translators as "fable" in the First Epistle to Timothy, the Second Epistle to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus and the First Epistle of Peter. A person who writes fables is a fabulist. History The fable is one of the most enduring forms of folk liter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Characters
Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took at the introduction of the regular script in the 2nd century. Over the following centuries, traditional characters were regarded as the standard form of printed Chinese characters or literary Chinese throughout the Sinosphere until the middle of the 20th century, before different script reforms initiated by countries using Chinese characters as a writing system. Traditional Chinese characters remain in common use in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside Southeast Asia; in addition, Hanja in Korean language remains virtually identical to traditional characters, which is still used to a certain extent in South Korea, despite differing standards used among these countries over some variant Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simplified Characters
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the '' Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one of the two standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the People's Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China, Malaysia and Singapore, while traditional Chinese characters still remain in common use in Hong Kong, Macau, ROC/Taiwan and Japan to a certain extent. Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially . In its broadest sense, the latter term refers to all characters that have undergone simplifications of character "structure" or "body", some of which have existed for millennia mainly in handwriting alon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor or Yudi ( or , ') in Chinese culture, traditional religions and myth is one of the representations of the first god ( '). In Daoist theology he is the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzun, who is one of the Three Pure Ones, the three primordial emanations of the Tao. He is often identified with Śakra in Chinese Buddhist cosmology. The Jade Emperor is known by many names, including Heavenly Grandfather (, '), which originally meant "Heavenly Duke", which is used by commoners; the Jade Lord; the Highest Emperor; Great Emperor of Jade (, ' or , '). Chinese mythology There are many stories in Chinese mythology involving the Jade Emperor. He can also be regarded as a traditional figure among the White Lotus secret society. Origin It was said that Jade Emperor was originally the crown prince of the kingdom of Pure Felicity and Majestic Heavenly Lights and Ornaments. At birth, he emitted a wondrous light that filled the entire kingdom. When he was young, he was k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
