Kong Tek Chun Ong (), is the patron deity of Nan'an in

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, ances ...

. He has a unique image of crossing his right leg and dropping his left leg. He is a

deified Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

shepherd from Anxi, southern

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

who lived during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907-979), and was well-known for his

filial piety Filial piety is the virtue of exhibiting love and respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors, particularly within the context of Confucian ethics, Confucian, Chinese Buddhism, Chinese Buddhist ethics, Buddhist, and Daoism, Daoist ethics. ...

and honesty. The religious movement spread from Nan'an to the entirety of

Hoklo people The Hoklo people () are a Han Chinese subgroup who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to southeastern Fujian in China, and known by various related terms such as Banlam people (), Minnan people, Fujianese people o ...

and to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

with the migration of

from there. During the reign of the

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China ...

, a detailed account of his life and following was written.

Biography

His birth name was Kwee Tiong Hok (郭忠福) or ''Kwee Ang Hok'' (郭洪福), a native of

Quanzhou Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's largest most populous metropolitan region, wi ...

, Anxi,

Fujian Province Fujian is a province in southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefecture city by population is Qua ...

, born in the year of Tongguang in

Later Tang Tang, known in historiography as the Later Tang, was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China and the second of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Chinese history. The first three of the Later Tang's four ...

, on the 22nd day of the 2nd lunar month, and his family lived at the foot of Kwee Mountain for many generations. Kwee Tiong Hok was a very pious from childhood. He was working for the Yeoh (楊) family sheep herding in Chheng Khe County (清溪縣, now in

Anxi) when he would suddenly miss his parents and run back home to Nan'an to serve them. After his father's death, Kwee Tiong Hok was always very sad when herding sheep because his family was poor and could not afford to buy land for burial. A geomancer felt that he was very filial and pointed out to him a piece of auspicious land. Guo then asked the Yeoh family to bury his father there and returned home to serve his mother. There is also a folk legend that after Kwee Tiong Hok's father died early, his mother worked as a maid for the Yeoh family while Kwee Tiong Hok herded sheep for the Yeoh family. The Yeoh family hired a geomancer (in one version of the legend said to be named Chhui Un 崔芸) to choose the location of the gravesite, but they accidentally neglected the geomancer. Kwee Tiong Hok's mother treated the geomancer with respect, so the geomancer asked her if her husband had been buried, and after learning that he had not, he asked her whether she wanted her descendants to be the "Emperor of China" or to enjoy "the title of marquis for ten thousand generations. "The mother chose the latter. The geomancer then told her: "Under the sheep pen is the

feng shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

perfect burial place (sheep shed centipede cave), you crush your husband's bones, and when you bring me breakfast tomorrow morning, you take the opportunity to scatter the ashes in the sheep pen, and then leave with your son, seeing a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

wearing a

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

made

bucket A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical Cylinder (geometry), cylinder or Truncation (geometry), truncated Cone (geometry), cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom that is attached to a semicircular carrying handle (grip), handle ...

and

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

riding a man, so he stopped. After Kwee Tiong Hok and his mother left Yeoh's house, they saw a monk with a bronze cymbal on his head to keep off the rain, and a shepherd boy hiding under the cow's belly to avoid the rain, so they chose to stay there. One day, when he was sixteen years old, Kwee Tiong Hok, with a gourd and a Buddhist sutra in his hand, suddenly climbed to the top of Kwee Mountain and sat on an ancient vine tree. When Kwee Tiong Hok's mother arrived, she reached out and pulled his left leg, so people who later made the statue portrayed him with his right leg up and his left leg down.

Some prominent temples in overseas

* Hong San See Temple, Singapore * Hong San Si Temple, Sarawak in Malaysia

References

{{Reflist People from Anxi County Taoist deities Taoism in Taiwan Deified Chinese men Pages with unreviewed translations

Biography

Some prominent temples in overseas

See also

References