Tu'er Shen (, The Leveret Spirit), Hu Tianbao or Tu Shen (, The Rabbit God), is a Chinese deity who manages love and sex between men. His name literally means "
rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
deity". His adherents refer to him as Ta Yeh (, The Master).
In a folk tale from 17th century
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 ...
, a soldier is in love with a provincial official, and spies on him to see him naked. The official has the soldier tortured and killed, but he returns from the dead in the form of a leveret (a hare in its first year) in the dream of a village elder. The leveret demands that local men build a temple to him where they can burn incense in the interest of "affairs of men". The story ends:
Yuan Mei
Yuan Mei (; 1716–1797) was a Chinese poet of the Qing dynasty. He was often mentioned with Ji Yun as the "Nan Yuan Bei Ji" ().
Biography
Early life
Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang (, in modern Hangzhou), Zhejiang province, to a cultured famil ...
during the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
, Tu'er Shen was a man named Hu Tianbao () who fell in love with a very handsome imperial inspector of Fujian Province. One day he was caught peeping on the inspector through a bathroom wall, at which point he confessed his reluctant affections for the other man. The imperial inspector had Hu Tianbao sentenced to death by beating. One month after Hu Tianbao's death, he appeared to a man from his hometown in a dream, claiming that since his crime was one of love, the underworld officials decided to right the injustice by appointing him the god and safeguarder of homosexual affections.
After his dream the man erected a shrine to Hu Tianbao, which became very popular in Fujian, so much so that in late Qing times, the cult of Hu Tianbao was targeted for extermination by the Qing government.
The deity can be seen as an alternative to
Yue Lao
Yue Lao () is a god of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. He appears as an old man under the moon.
Yue Lao appears at night and "unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union."Tu'er Ye, the rabbit on the moon.
Government suppression
Images of Hu Tianbao show him in an embrace with another man. The sense that the villagers must keep the reason for the temple secret in the story may relate to pressure from the central Chinese authorities to abandon the practice.
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
official Zhu Gui (1731–1807), a grain tax circuit intendant of Fujian in 1765, strove to standardize the morality of the people with a "Prohibition of Licentious Cults". One cult which he found particularly troublesome was the cult of Hu Tianbao. As he reports,
Modern interpretations
Although Tu'er Shen is popularly revered by some temples, some Taoist schools may have considered homosexuality as sexual misconduct throughout history, probably deeming it to be outside of marriage. However, many Taoism scriptures do not mention anything against same-gender relations, mostly maintaining neutrality.
The story may be an attempt to mythologize a system of male marriages in Fujian attested to by the scholar-bureaucrat Shen Defu and the 17th century writer Li Yu. The older man in the union would play the masculine role as a ''qixiong'' or "adoptive older brother", paying a "bride price" to the family of the younger man—it was said virgins fetched higher prices—who became the ''qidi'', or "adoptive younger brother". Li Yu described the ceremony, "They do not skip the three cups of tea or the six wedding rituals- it is just like a proper marriage with a formal wedding." The ''qidi'' then moved into the household of the ''qixiong'', where he would be completely dependent on him, be treated as a son-in-law by the ''qixiong''s parents, and possibly even help raise children adopted by the ''qixiong''. These marriages could last as long as 20 years before both men were expected to marry women in order to procreate.
Keith Stevens reports seeing images like these in
Hokkien
Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...
-speaking communities in Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Stevens refers to these images as 'brothers' or 'princes' and calls them Taibao (), which is probably a perversion of Tianbao. Stevens was usually told that the two figures in an embrace were brothers, and only in one temple in Fujian was he told that they were homosexuals.
The history of Hu Tianbao has been largely forgotten even by the temple keepers. However, there is a temple in
Yonghe District
Yonghe District () is an urban area in the southern part of New Taipei, Taiwan. Yonghe District is the smallest district in New Taipei City. It is primarily a mixed residential and commercial area. With around 38,000 inhabitants per square kilom ...
,
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 ...
that venerates Hu Tianbao in his traditional guise. The temple is known as the Hall of Martial Brilliance ().
Yonghe District
Yonghe District () is an urban area in the southern part of New Taipei, Taiwan. Yonghe District is the smallest district in New Taipei City. It is primarily a mixed residential and commercial area. With around 38,000 inhabitants per square kilom ...
,
New Taipei City
New Taipei City is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in regions of Taiwan, northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 4,004,367 as of January 2023, making it the most populous city in Taiwan, a ...
,
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 ...
. Roughly 9,000 gay pilgrims visit the temple each year praying to find a suitable partner. The temple also performs a love ceremony for gay couples at the world's only religious shrine for homosexuals. As of 2020, the temple remains the only extant shrine to the deity as the original temple in Fujian, China has not yet been rebuilt. Some of the deity's followers have established altars dedicated to the god in their homes. Visitors to Tu'er Shen's temple in Taiwan have increased exponentially in the last decade, especially after the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan.
Depiction in media works
* He is the main character in the 2010 Taiwanese drama ''The Rabbit God's Matchmaking''.
* In Andrew Thomas Huang's short film ''Kiss of the Rabbit God'', Tu'er Shen seduces a restaurant worker.Kiss of the Rabbit God – NOWNESS , Vimeo
* Tu'er Shen appears in the ''
American Gods
''American Gods'' (2001) is a fantasy novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana (culture), Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on the mysterious and taciturn Shad ...
'' episode "The Rapture of Burning". He is portrayed by Daniel Jun.
* Although Tu'er Shen isn't mentioned by name in the
danmei
''Danmei'' ( zh, c=耽美, p=dānměi, l=indulging beauty) is a Chinese genre of literature and other fictional media that features romantic relationships between male characters. Derived from both Japanese boys' love and Western slash fiction, ...
series ''
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
''Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation'' (), or MDZS, is a danmei, ''danmei'' novel written by Chinese author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, also known as MXTX. The story is set in a fictional Xianxia (genre), ''xianxia'' world where humans known as "cultiva ...
'' by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX) and its subsequent adaptations, rabbits are a recurring motif interpreted as a symbol of the lead characters' developing homosexual relationship.
* Tu’er Shen was added into ''
Tokyo Afterschool Summoners
, known also by the blend word ''Housamo'' (放サモ, derived from ''Tōkyō Hōkago Samonāzu''), is an Free to play, F2P role-playing video game for Android (operating system), Android and iOS. It is developed by , a mobile gaming company opera ...
'' as a playable character. The origin story of this character closely follows the origin of his inspiration, only he now has the ability to see into the near future, and enjoys parkour.
See also
*
LGBT rights in Taiwan
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the Republic of China (Taiwan) are regarded as some of the most comprehensive of those in Asia. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal, and same-s ...
*
Homosexuality in China
Homosexuality has been documented in China since ancient times. According to one study by Bret Hinsch, for some time after the fall of the Han dynasty, homosexuality was widely accepted in China but this has been disputed. Several early Chinese ...