Text/Reporter Chen Liang Wang Yuying
Photo/Yangcheng Evening News
A folk belief that is “unknown” has no classics and no classics. It originated in eastern Guangdong and has lasted for thousands of years and has remained popular. In Taiwan alone, there are more than 6 million believers. Its ancestral home has just been awarded the “Cross-Strait Exchange Base”, which is called “King of the Three Mountains”.
What is the “three”? Why are there three “mountains”? Where did the “king” come from? What is the charm of this folk belief called “King of the Three Mountains”?
On November 4, the “Strait·Three Mountains·Four Seas” Sanshan King Academic Seminar, hosted by Yangcheng Evening News Group, co-organized by Sun Yat-sen University Humanities and Social Sciences Department, and the Guangdong Cross-Strait Exchange Promotion Association, was held on the South Campus of Sun Yat-sen University Guangzhou Campus. Zhang Ke, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Guangdong Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission, and Xiao Bing, Deputy Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, attended the seminar.
Explore the spiritual core of folk beliefs and promote communication between Chinese and overseas ChineseCinema
Since October 1992, Jieyang City, “The First<a After the KomiksSanshan Ancestral Temple Academic Seminar”, after 31 years, more than 10 “Sanshan Kings” cultural scholars from Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, and Malaysia, China gathered again to discuss the development and current situation of the “Sanshan Kings” folk belief culture, as well as the history and path of its dissemination at home and abroad.
Four experts published the main theme Cinema report. Through the tracing of historical materials and the current situation, they explored the spiritual core of the folk belief of “King of Sanshan”, and demonstrated the important role played by the “King of Sanshan” culture in uniting the hearts of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and promoting communication and exchanges between Chinese and overseas Chinese at home and abroad.
Chen Chunsheng: The concept of “protecting the country and assassinating the people” is a common connection and vision between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas believers
Professor of the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University and a researcher at the Center for Historical Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University, and also serves as the director of the Teaching Steering Committee of History Majors of the Ministry of EducationMember Chen Chunsheng gave a keynote report entitled “National Consciousness and the Rise of the Faith of the Three Mountains Kings Since the Song Dynasty.” Chen Chunsheng has been associated with the Sanshan King culture for decades and has traveled across Guangdong and Taiwan. He has deeply thought about the origin, development and cultural value of the Sanshan King’s folk beliefs. His academic thoughts and research methods have had a profound influence on the academic community.
Chen Chunsheng quoted the explanation of Professor Wolfgang Franke of Hamburg University, Germany, who had taught for a long time in China and Malaysia, pointing out that the so-called “Three Mountain Kings” may be the remains of the ancient Yue Mountain God belief Cinema, and is related to ethnic minority customs, which are not unique to the Chaozhou area.
“The central dynasty’s recognition of folk beliefs such as the Sanshan King was a very effective and widely adopted method that the central dynasty in ancient China ruled the southern region.” In his speech, Chen Chunsheng focused on the interaction process between “national consciousness” and civil society. He believes that the practice of Song Huizong awarding the “Mingsheng” temple to Chaozhou’s “Three Shenshan” temple is a very typical expression of national consciousness in the developed southern civil society. Many Sanshan King Palaces and Temples in mainland China and Taiwan have plaques with “Protecting the Country and Safeguarding the People” hanging high, revealing the mentality of hope that the gods will maintain a balance between the “country” and the “people” so that both of them can benefit. The folk belief is one of the links that connects the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Many folk belief traditions in mainland China have developed in Taiwan, which has also given the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait more connection and communication.
Chen Chunsheng said that although the customs and habits in different parts of China are very different, China has long been a unified country. To determine whether a place understands and accepts the central ideology lies in the extent to which the local scholars and gentry class can consciously interpret local cultural traditions and customs in accordance with the “rituals and laws” of the court.
He emphasized that in traditional Chinese society, “national consciousness” is always present and everywhere. In historical and cultural research, only by having a systematic grasp and deep understanding of national ideology and dynasty rules and regulations can we have a more intimate understanding of the changes in local and folk customs and beliefs and their significance.
Qiu Yangui: The Sanshan King Palace Temple has become an important historical evidence for the study of Taiwan’s immigration history
The Sanshan King Palace Temple has become an important historical evidence for the study of Taiwan’s immigration history and a symbol of the ancestral homes of relatives in Chaoshan and Hakka towns in Taiwan. Qiu Yangui, a professor at the Department of Ancient Arts and Repair of the Taiwan University of Arts, wrote a report titled “The Faith of the Sanshan Kings in Taiwan”. He mentioned that Taiwanese believers have more communication and exchanges with mainland people through the opportunity to find their roots in the Sanshan Ancestral Temple in mainland China.
Qiu Yangui introduced that the phenomenon of the Three Mountains King’s belief in Taiwan is still regarded as a method of identifying Hakka groups in the 21st century, but in his opinion, this too simple method should be discussed again. He observed the Three Mountains King’s belief in Taiwan from the perspectives of social organization and ethnic relations, and summarized it as “guild hall type href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Cinema“, “guest base type”, “anti-article type” and “chao-hui Fulao type”. Among them, the number of “guest base type” and “anti-article type” temples all reached about 80, with the largest size. After Taiwan’s industrialization in the 1970s, more “immigrant” temples appeared in the city.
Chen Zhiping: “Great love” is the core meaning of folk beliefs
Denzie of Xiamen University Chinese Studies and ChinaKomiksProfessor Chen Zhiping, President of the Ming History Society, gave a speech entitled “The Cultural Meaning of the Faith of Mazu and the King of Sanshan”. He believes that the Faith of Mazu and the King of Sanshan are both part of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and its core meaning is “urgent to the people”, full of “great love” spirit, and has the function of social education and cultural education. Folk culture, including the Faith of Mazu and the King of Sanshan, has become one of the important channels for the spread of Chinese culture overseas after the 18th century.
BabaylanWang Chenfa: Studying the Sanshan King is one of the responsibilities of reviving China
Wang Chen, director of the Malaysian Taoist Academy and a special professor at the Hanjiang Communication University of Malaysia, entitled “Nanyang Sanshan King Temple Cinema to attract more people to understand the Chinese nation more comprehensively through the Sanshan King. Many new technologies can be used, such as AI, social charity work, and participation in local environmental protection activities. Use limited temple space to exert global influence.
Creative transformation and innovative development, scholars have insightful insights
Inheriting the traditional culture that has been for thousands of years and rooted in the folk “grassroots” beliefsBabaylanHow to achieve creative transformation and innovative development? During the roundtable discussion session of the seminar, scholars put forward their own opinions.
Xiao Wenping, director and professor of the Hakka Institute of Meizhou Jiaying College, pointed out that as a mountain god and a natural god, the King of Babaylan reflects the tradition of the Chinese nation to respect nature. It is responsible for patriotism, love for the country, protecting villages, and guarding the land. The spirit of href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Babaylan has established the concept of hometown for the people, and the spirit of fairness, justice and justice it advocates also has important value in the contemporary era.
Xie Guiwen, a professor at Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, believes that folk beliefs are important assets for the country, society, and people, and have survival functions, integration functions, and cognitive functions. Chen Xianbo, a professor at South China Normal University, said that the history of the King of the Three Mountains is not only a history of folk beliefs, but also a history of regional development, social and economic history, and a history of mutual learning between Chinese history and civilization. Wu Mengxian, associate professor at Jieyang Vocational and Technical College, said that his investigation found that the people also Komiks often regard the King of the Three Mountains as an important social bond in interpersonal communication.
Xiamen University professor Lian Xinhao suggested that the three kings of the mountain can also learn from the successful cases of Mazu’s belief in the world, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait work together.
Chen Zhiping, professor, doctoral supervisor, and dean of the Institute of Chinese Studies, pointed out that the Sanshan King must achieve innovative cultural development, and local governments should take the lead in promoting it cannot be ignored.
Ou Junyong, associate professor at Hanshan Normal University, shared that as part of Jieyang culture, the King of Sanshan is actually “very vivid” and he has to walk to the fields to have a real feeling. Wen Jianqin, associate professor at Hanshan Normal University, said that when he teaches students about Chinese cultural history and Chaoshan history and culture, he will use the Sanshan King as a case study. The students are very interested and have developed related cultural and creative products.
Chin Lihua, a professor at Tsinghua University in Taiwan, mentioned that to let young people understand traditional culture, we must make good use of the “discourse” methods of young people such as movies, short videos, music, and comics.
Lin Guoping, a professor at Fujian Normal University, concluded that folk beliefs such as the King of Sanshan are an important part of Chinese traditional culture and are left to us by our ancestors.A precious cultural heritage should be cherished.
The Flowers of the Sanshan King Cultural Documentary “From the Three Mountains to the Four Seas” were also held at the meeting. The documentary team went to Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Sanshan King’s Palace Temple in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Taiwan, China to communicate with believers and related folk scholars, record the inheritance and changes of the Sanshan King’s sacrificial culture, and show the profound historical value, humanistic value and social value accumulated over the past thousand years of Sanshan King’s culture.
【Small Knowledge】Folk belief culture of “King of Sanshan”
The folk belief culture of “King of Sanshan” originated in eastern Guangdong and is now widely spread to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and its spirit of “protecting the country and safe people, peace and stability” has been respected by the people of all generations. Lintian Ancestral Temple, located in Jieyang, Guangdong, is the ancestral temple of the Sanshan King Palace Temple in the world. It was awarded the “Cross-Strait Exchange Base” in 2023.
