![]() ![]() My argument relies on the idea that a god can certainly be appropriated by various persons and groups, but that, in order to have any use, it needs to remain coherent. 3 My story is, however, somewhat different, as it is largely focused on how late imperial elites appropriated the cult while maintaining a direct continuity with early modern rituals. 2 This essay thus echoes earlier studies of gods with roots in Daoist exorcistic traditions that later developed into multifarious directions, such as Zhenwu 眞武 or Guandi 關帝 (Guan Yu 關羽). ![]() More specifically, I hope to show how certain modern cults, such as Lord Wang’s, were to an important extent shaped by the daofa 道法, the new exorcistic ritual traditions that emerged during the early modern period (tenth to fourteenth centuries) and have since remained central to Daoism. 1 This essay proposes to take a different approach: it explores, through the case study of Lord Wang, how a god could be present throughout late imperial (fifteenth to early twentieth centuries) and modern Chinese society, from the village processions to the monasteries to the clubs of the elites, in a thoroughly coherent guise and it argues that this divine persona was clearly defined by Daoist priests and their ritual practices. Both approaches, however, often emphasize the god’s different representations (including iconography, myths, and rituals) among different social classes or local contexts, and argue that the coherent discourse held about them by religious professionals, especially Daoists and Buddhists, has a relatively limited impact on the practices and imaginary of ordinary people. ![]() Obviously, they are not exclusive, but they are rarely given equal attention. The first is what we may call history of divine identity, that is, following the evolutions of a given god in narratives (notably hagiography, novels, and baojuan 寶卷 ) and iconography the second is the history of the god’s cult, focusing on social contexts and patronage. “Just think how much good they could have done if they’d spent that amount of money on solving real problems faced by ordinary people.Recent research on Chinese gods tends to align with either one of two main approaches. “This is all taxpayers’ money,” one incensed Jingzhou resident told Radio Free Asia of the funds spent on constructing, relocating, and reconstructing the mammoth tourist magnet, which was reportedly only brought in $2 million since first opening. “We thought there should be a limit on the height of buildings, but there was no specific rule on statues,” the Post reported Qin Jun, deputy head of the Jingzhou Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, as telling state broadcaster CCTV. However, construction was allowed to proceed back in 2013 during a period of confusion as to whether or not statues perched atop height-compliant buildings were subject to the rules. ![]() Per the Post, the statue, which was constructed for Guinness World Records inclusion in mind as the world’s tallest bronze likeness of Guan Yu, might be technically illegal as local regulations forbid the construction of buildings over 24 meters (just shy of 79 feet). It’s unclear what will become of the pedestal-museum/shrine at the site and if a new, similar base will be constructed at the new site in Dianjiangtai. (“Demolition Gang Beheads Giant War Deity in China’s Hubei,” declared Radio Free Asia.)Īs detailed by the South China Morning Post, the demolition and reconstruction effort, which is being led by the state-owned Jingzhou Tourism Investment and Development Group, will ultimately cost almost as much-just under $24 million- as it did to erect the offending statue. And so, as demanded by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the 1,200-metric-ton “waste of money” is now being carefully dismantled-the warrior-god’s ginormous head was the first to go-and relocated to a less conspicuous, more tourist-friendly location several miles away in the suburban city of Dianjiangtai. Neither was the central Chinese government, which declared that the monolithic Lord Yu had “ruined Jingzhou’s historical appearance and culture” after complaints from residents continued to roll in. Locals in Jingzhou, an ancient city in the south of the Hubei province, however, were apparently never taken with the majestic epic-ness of the skyline-dominating monument within Guanyi Park. “Incredibly Epic Statue of Ancient Chinese Warrior God Unveiled,” read a Popular Mechanics headline published at the time. Costing an estimated $26 million and taking three years to construct, Jingzhou’s colossal Guan Yu statue, which until very recently, stood atop a 30-foot-tall base that doubled as a museum and shrine, rendered many (Western) internet users completely smitten when it was completed in 2016. ![]()
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