Huxian
Húxiān (), also called or is a deity in Chinese religion whose cult is present in provinces of north China (from Henan and Shandong northwards), but especially in northeast China where it can be said to be the most popular deity. The deity can be represented as either male or female, but is most frequently identified as the female whose animal form is a nine-tailed fox. Mythology tells that fox spirits are masters of the arts of metamorphosis, and can manifest in human form to seduce men or women. In exchange, they convey wealth and property. In mystical literature, influenced by Taoism, fox spirits are immortal or transcendent beings of a high level in the spiritual hierarchy of beings who engage in the pursuit of becoming immortals. The fox deity is also represented as a couple of gods, male and female, called the Great Lord of the Three Foxes () and the Great Lady of the Three Foxes (). As a goddess, the Fox Immortal is related to , the great goddess guardian of Mount K ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Deities
Chinese gods and immortals are beings in various Chinese religions seen in a variety of ways and mythological contexts. Many are worshiped as deities because traditional Chinese religion is polytheistic, stemming from a pantheistic view that divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating, and propagating the way of heaven (, ''Tian''), which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order. Many gods are ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly achievements. Most gods are also identified with stars and constellations. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore, as the means of connecting back to Heaven, which is the "utmost ancestral father" (, ). There are a variety of immortals in Chinese thought, and one major type is the ''xian'', which is thought in some religious Taoism movements to be a human given long or infi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Northeast China Folk Religion
Northeast China folk religion is the variety of Chinese folk religion of northeast China, characterised by distinctive cults original to Hebei and Shandong, transplanted and adapted by the Han Chinese settlers of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang (the three provinces comprising Northeast China) since the Qing dynasty. It is characterised by terminology, deities and practices that are different from those of central and southern Chinese folk religion. Many of these patterns derive from the interaction of Han religion with Manchu shamanism. Prominence is given to the worship of zoomorphic deities, of a "totemic" significance. In the region the terms '' shen'' ("god") and ''xian'' ("immortal being") are synonymous. Figures of ritual specialists or shamans perform various ritual functions for groups of believers and local communities, including ''chūmǎxiān'' ( "riding for the immortals"), dances, healing, exorcism, divination, and communication with ancestors. History The forma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Gods And Immortals
Chinese gods and immortals are beings in various Chinese religions seen in a variety of ways and mythological contexts. Many are worshiped as deities because Chinese folk religion, traditional Chinese religion is Polytheism, polytheistic, stemming from a Pantheism, pantheistic view that divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating, and propagating the way of heaven (, ''Tian''), which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the celestial pole, northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order. Many gods are ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly achievements. Most gods are also identified with stars and constellations. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore, as the means of connecting back to Heaven, which is the "utmost ancestral father" (, ). There are a variety of immortals in Chinese thought, and one major type is the ''Xian (Taoism), xian'', which is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inari Ōkami
, also called , is the Japanese ''kami'' of Red fox, foxes, Fertility (soil), fertility, rice, tea, sake, agriculture and Industrial sector, industry, and general prosperity and worldly success, and is one of the principal kami of Shinto. The name Inari can be literally translated into "rice-bearer". In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Genderfluid, Alternatingly-represented as male and/or female, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual ''kami''. Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 CE, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century. By the 16th century, Inari had become the patron of blacksmiths and the protector of warriors, and worship of Inari spread across Japan in the Edo period. Inari is a popular figure in both Shinto and Buddhism, Buddhist beliefs in Japan. More than one-third (40,000) of the Shinto shrines in Japan are ded ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Xian (Taoism)
A ''xian'' ( zh, s=仙, t=僊, p=xiān, w=hsien) is any manner of immortal or mythical being within the Taoist Pantheon (religion), pantheon or Chinese folklore. has often been translated into English as "immortal" or "wizard". Traditionally, ''xian'' refers to entities who have attained immortality and supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical abilities later in life, with a connection to the heavenly realms inaccessible to mortals. This is often achieved through spiritual Self-cultivation#Taoism and the authentic self, self-cultivation, Chinese alchemy, alchemy, or worship by others. This is different from the Deity, gods (Deity, deities) in Chinese mythology and Taoism. ''Xian'' is also used as a descriptor to refer to often benevolent figures of great historical, spiritual and cultural significance. The Quanzhen School of Taoism, Daoism had a variety of definitions for during its history, including a metaphorical meaning where the term simply means a good, principl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Queen Mother Of The West
The Queen Mother of the West, known by #Names, various local names, is a mother goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese religion and Chinese mythology, mythology, also worshipped later in neighbouring countries. She is attested from ancient times. The first historical information on her can be traced back to Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions that record sacrifices to a "Western Mother". Even though these inscriptions illustrate that she predates organized Taoism, she is most often associated with Taoism. The growing popularity of the Queen Mother of the West, as well as the beliefs that she was the dispenser of prosperity, longevity, and eternal bliss, took place during Han dynasty, in the 2nd century BCE, when the northern and western parts of China became more accessible through the opening of the Silk Road. Names ''Queen Mother of the West'' is a calque of Xiwangmu in China, Chinese sources, Seiōbo in Japan, Seowangmo in Korea, and Tây Vương Mẫu in Vietnam. S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Huli Jing
Huli jing () are Chinese mythological creatures usually capable of shapeshifting, who may either be benevolent or malevolent spirits. In Chinese mythology and folklore, the fox spirit takes variant forms with different meanings, powers, characteristics, and shapes, including , , , , , , and . Fox spirits and nine-tailed foxes appear frequently in Chinese folklore, literature, and mythology. Depending on the story, the fox spirit's presence may be a good or a bad omen. The motif of nine-tailed foxes from Chinese culture was eventually transmitted and introduced to Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures. Descriptions The nine-tailed fox occurs in the ''Shanhaijing'' (''Classic of Mountains and Seas''), compiled from the Warring States period to the Western Han period (circa fourth to circa first century BC). The work states: In chapter 14 of the ''Shanhaijing'', Guo Pu, a scholar of the Eastern Jin dynasty, had commented that the "nine-tailed fox was an auspicious omen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Folk Religion
Chinese folk religion comprises a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. This includes the veneration of ''Shen (Chinese folk religion), shen'' ('spirits') and Chinese ancestor worship, ancestors, and worship devoted to Chinese deities and immortals, deities and immortals, who can be deities of places or natural phenomena, of human behaviour, or progenitors of Chinese kin, family lineages. Stories surrounding these gods form a loose canon of Chinese mythology. By the Song dynasty (960–1279), these practices had been Religious syncretism, blended with Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist teachings to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day. The government of China, government of modern China generally tolerates popular religious organizations, but has suppressed or persecuted those that they fear would undermine social stability. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, governments ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jiangsu
Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administrative divisions by area, third smallest, but the List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, fifth most populous, with a population of 84.75 million, and the List of Chinese administrative divisions by population density, most densely populated of the 22 provinces of the People's Republic of China. Jiangsu has the highest GDP per capita and second-highest GDP of Chinese provinces, after Guangdong. Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, and Zhejiang and Shanghai to the south. Jiangsu has a coastline of over along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze flows through the southern part of the province. Since the Sui dynasty, Sui and Tang dynasty, Tang dynasties, Jiangsu has been a national economic and commercial center ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shen (Chinese Religion)
''Shen'' () is a Chinese language, Chinese word with senses of Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits. The Japanese language, Japanese equivalent is ''kami'', as in Shinto, Shintoism. This single Chinese term expresses a range of similar, yet differing, meanings. The first meaning is a generic word for deities which are intimately involved in the affairs of the world, or spirits, such as dead ancestors. Spirits generate entities like rivers, mountains, thunder, and stars. A second meaning of ''shen'' refers to the human spirit or psyche that is seen in the body as luster or vigor and in the mind as vitality and enthusiasm; it is the basic power or agency within humans that accounts for life, and in order to further life to its fullest potential, the spirit (Shen) is transformed to actualize potential (Jing (Chinese medicine), Jing 精 ). A third understanding of ''shen'' describes an entity as supernatural in the sense of inspiring awe or ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kumiho
A ''kumiho'' or ''gumiho'' (, literally " nine-tailed fox") is a creature that appears in the folktales of East Asia and legends of Korea. It is similar to the Chinese , the Japanese and the Vietnamese . It can freely transform into a beautiful woman often set out to seduce men, and eat their liver or heart (depending on the legend). There are numerous tales in which the appears, several of which can be found in the encyclopedic ''Compendium of Korean Oral Literature'' (). Mythology Description The old Chinese text '' Classic of Mountains and Seas'', the earliest record to document the nine-tailed fox, mentioned that the fox with nine tails came from and lived in the country called Qingqiu three hundreds miles east, the term meaning "green hill" interpreted as the country or region of the east and was later historically used to refer to the region of Korea at least since the era during the Three Kingdoms of Korea. However, the name of Gojoseon (called Joseon in the record), t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |