Guan Gong Belief Research

Guan Gong faith has been endless from ancient times till now, it beginning in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, originating in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, developing in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and prospering in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this has making Guan Gong eventually become a well-known famous "Civil and Military God", thus forming a huge cultural circle of Guan Gong, and Guan Gong himself has become a broad and rich cultural symbol, exerting huge impact on Chinese ancient society. Nowadays, with the tide of reform and opening up culture, the influence of Guan Gong belief is increasing day by day. It has become a bright pearl and remarkable folklore in contemporary social culture. It is worthy of the attention and research of scholars. Guan Gong faith, as one of the most representative secular beliefs among folks, is rich in cultural connotation and complex. This culture is presented in forms of novels, pictures, sculptures, architecture and many other forms,and architecture includes the Guan Gong-related ancestral halls, temples, tombs and stages and many other elements, and these buildings mostly have evaluation couplets from the world to Guan Gong. These couplets praise his loyalty, his wisdom, or his courage, his righteousness. There are some couplets exhorting a role of warning and encouragement. It is of great significance to collect and organize these couplets on the cultural connotation of the study of Guan Gong's faith, and the different couplets have obvious characteristics of the times and geography. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between the different historical periods and different regional cultures with Guan Gong beliefs, and then interpret the Guan Gong's faith by analyzing the history of Guan Gong's faith. The paper mainly covers five parts:First part, it expounds the reasons of the topic, the purpose and significance of the research, the research theory and methods, and folk beliefs, Guan Gong belief as well as the research status of couplets.Second part, this paper combs Guan Gong faith in different historical periods of the development situation, and divides the development of Guan Gong belief into four periods: first, the origin period which is the Southern and Northern Wei Jin dynasties.People at this period mainly praise Guan Gong's courage, while Guan Gong faith at this time was still in the bud and not really formed; second is the formation period at Sui and Tang dynasties. Under the dual impetus of folk beliefs and Buddhism, Guan Gong has evolved from the traditional fierce image into a god with a certain influence,but at this time Guan Gong faith was mainly popular among the folk; third is the development period which is the Song and Yuan dynasties, which was when Guan Gong faith began to get the official attention, and Buddhism and Taoism also further deepened the use and advocacy of Guan Gong belief, gradually increasing its civil impact; fourth, the prosperous period at Ming and Qing dynasties, Guan Gong faith reached the historical climax stage at this time with the court's strong admiration and the strong support of the people. The number of the believers and temple construction are the highest level of history, which was amazing.Third part, the characteristics and development of couplets are briefly described,and the role and significance of couplets in temples are discussed. Through the interpretation of the couplets, this paper will explain the social development at different historical periods and the relationship between values and Guan Gong belief as well as the characteristics at different historical periods.Fourth part, Guan Gong couplets are classified according to the geographical division to study and analyze the characteristics of different regional cultural systems,including: Sanjin, Zhong Yuan, Jingchu, Northeast, Yan Zhao, Shandong, Wu Yue,Fujian and Guangdong,Bashu,Shanxi and Gansu,ethnic minorities and Hong Kong,Macao and Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States and other places.Fifth part, a summary will be made and some of the author's thinking will be put forward.The conclusion of this paper is Guangong faith as a cultural symbol, its emergence and development are common support cannot do without the government and the private sector as well as the support of the traditional culture, which is the fundamental reason of Guan Gong belief can be rooted in the different historical periods and different regional culture system. The history of Guangong faith through germination, development, and at different stages, it has great relevance with the social development and the atmosphere of social culture and geographical culture system. Although the form and focus of Guangong faith is not the same, but overall is mostly expressed on Guan Gong worship and admiration, in order to promote the public Preparation of some noble character, and belief in different local cultures are rich in his local cultural characteristics, but the publicity in all areas of"loyalty" and "courage" is the theme,it is also the main factor of the history of Guan Gong was respected by the people. From the perspective of spirit, Guan Gong worship has become a spiritual pillar when people encounter hardships and dangers.From a moral perspective, Guan Gong belief transmission Renyilizhi letter, on behalf of the Chinese traditional virtues. From a cultural perspective, is a model of Chinese Guan Gong belief in folk belief system, is a treasure of Chinese traditional culture.Therefore, Guangong faith is our Chinese nation for thousands of years is not Off the development of cultural and spiritual wealth created jointly.