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Zigu
Zigu (), also known as Maogu, is a goddess representing toilets in Chinese folk religion. She was believed to be the spirit of a concubine who had been physically abused by a vengeful wife and died in the latrine. It is believed that her cult originated in the Shanxi region and spread across China by the Tang period. According to the legend, the true identity of Zigu is Consort Qi of the Han Dynasty, who was tortured and killed in the toilet by Empress Lü. The earliest record of Zigu is in the fifth volume of "Yiyuan" by Liu Jingshu or Liu Song of the Southern Dynasties (420-479). Other legends say that her real name is He Mingmei, and the word is Liqing, from Laiyang, Shandong. During the period of Empress Wu Zetian, the governor of Shouyang Li Jing killed He Mei's husband and regarded her as a concubine, which made He Mei jealous of Li Jing's chief wife. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month during the Lantern Festival, Li Jing's legitimate wife killed her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toilet God
A toilet god is a deity associated with latrines and toilets. Belief in toilet gods – a type of household deity – has been known from both modern and ancient cultures, ranging from Japan to ancient Rome. Such deities have been associated with health, well-being and fertility (because of the association between human waste and agriculture) and have been propitiated in a wide variety of ways, including making offerings, invoking and appeasing them through prayers, meditating and carrying out ritual actions such as clearing one's throat before entering or even biting the latrine to transfer spiritual forces back to the god. Modern cultures In Japan, belief in the toilet god or ''kawaya kami'', most often depicted in the form of ''Ususama-myō-ō'' (烏枢沙摩明王), served a dual purpose. Most bodily wastes were collected and used as fertilizers, ensuring a higher overall level of sanitation than in other countries where wastes were stored in cesspits or otherwise disposed of. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shouyang
Shouyang County () is a county in the east-central part of Shanxi province, China. It is under the administration of Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei province to the east. As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,379,498 inhabitants whom 1,226,617 ... city.- Climate References www.xzqh.org County-level divisions of Shanxi Jinzhong {{Shanxi-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ming Period
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty), numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. He also took great care breaking the power of the court eunuchs and unr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortune Telling
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation. Historically, Pliny the Elder describes use of the crystal ball in the 1st century CE by soothsayers (''"crystallum orbis"'', later written in Medieval Latin by scribes as ''orbuculum''). Contemporary Western images of fortune telling grow out of folkloristic reception of Renaissance magic, specifically associated with Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automatic Writing
Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spirits to manipulate the practitioner's hand. The instrument may be a standard writing instrument, or it may be one specially designed for automatic writing, such as a planchette or a ouija board. Religious and spiritual traditions have incorporated automatic writing, including Fuji in Chinese folk religion and the Enochian language associated with Enochian magic. In the modern era, it is associated with spiritualism and the occult, with notable practitioners including W. B. Yeats, Arthur Conan Doyle, and David Icke. There is no evidence supporting the existence of automatic writing, and claims associated with it are unfalsifiable. Documented examples are considered to be the result of the ideomotor phenomenon. History Early history Spirit w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yunxiao Niangniang
Yunxiao Niangniang (), also known as Zhao Yunxiao, is a Chinese goddess of childbirth. She is the oldest of the Sanxiao Shengmu (Holy mothers of three skies, 三霄聖母) or Sanxiao Niangniang (Ladies of three stars, 三霄娘娘). Sanxiao Niangniang is also worshipped as the household deity or toilet god. It is said "the kitchen god was in the kitchen and Sanxiao was in the cottage". Legend According to the ''Investiture of the Gods'', Zhao Yunxiao is a female celestial aiding Grand Old Master Wen Zhong. She is one of the three younger sisters of the God of wealth Zhao Gongming. The three sisters were killed when fighting Jiang Ziya. Later, they were appointed as deities. They are worshipped as deities controlling smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ... and ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Six Dynasties
Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, a chaotic warring period in northern China after the collapse of the Western Jin dynasty. The term " Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties" (魏晋南北朝 h) is also used by Chinese historians when referring to the historical period of the Six Dynasties, although both terms do not refer to the exact same dynasties. Six Dynasties with capitals in Jiankang The six dynasties based in Jiankang (in modern Nanjing) were: # Eastern Wu dynasty (222–280) # Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420) # Liu Song dynasty (420–479) # Southern Qi dynasty (479–502) # Liang dynasty (502–557) # Chen dynasty (557–589) Xu Song (許嵩) from the Tang dynasty wrote a book titled ''Veritable Records of Jiankang'' (建康實錄) that provides a histo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Door Gods
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, replacing S ... [...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 kind, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival ( zh, t=元宵節, s=元宵节, first=t, hp=Yuánxiāo jié), also called Shangyuan Festival ( zh, t=上元節, s=上元节, first=t, hp=Shàngyuán jié), is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar, during the full moon. Usually falling in February or early March on the Gregorian calendar, it marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD 25), it had become a festival with great significance. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns (). In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, and only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones. In modern times, lanterns have been embellished with many complex designs. For example, lanterns are now often made in the shape of animals. The lanterns can symbolize the people letting go of their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zi Gu Shen 1909 , sometimes known as ''zi'' (字) in Chinese
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Zi or ZI may refer to: * Zi (surname) (子), a surname used by Shang kings * Zi (title) (子), a Chinese honorific used for ancient viscounts and for master philosophers * Zi (name) (字), an alternate term for East Asian courtesy names * Zi (cuneiform), a sign in cuneiform writing * Zi Corporation, a Canadian software company * ''Zi'' (album), a 2016 album by Negură Bunget * Zi (prefix symbol) of the binary unit prefix zebi for digital data * Zi (Zoids), a fictional planet in the ''Zoids'' media franchise * Zona incerta, a region in the subthalamus * Aigle Azur (IATA airline code) See also * Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Folk Religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled with the contents of institutionalised religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, the Chinese syncretic religions". This includes the veneration of ''shen'' (spirits) and ancestors, exorcism of demonic forces, and a belief in the rational order of nature, balance in the universe and reality that can be influenced by human beings and their rulers, as well as spirits and gods. Worship is devoted to gods and immortals, who can be deities of places or natural phenomena, of human behaviour, or founders of family lineages. Stories of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology. By the Song dynasty (960-1279), these practices had been blended with Buddhist doctrines and Taoist teachings to form the popular religious sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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