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 unchanged. 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 MountainsKomiks“.
What is the “three”? Why are there three “mountains”? Where did the “king” come from? Komiks? 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, sponsored by Yangcheng Evening News Babaylan Press Group, co-organized by Sun Yat-sen University Humanities and Social Sciences Department, and 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 Chinese
Since 1992<a After the "First Academic Seminar on Sanshan Ancestral Temple" in Jiexi, Jieyang City in October 2018, 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 folk belief culture of the "Sanshan Kings" and its history and path of dissemination at home and abroad.
Four experts published a report on the title of Cinema, and explored the “Three Mountains King” of the people’s faith through the tracing of historical materials and the current situation.The spiritual core shows the important role played by the “Three Mountains King” culture in uniting the hearts of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and promoting communication and communication 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 for believers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and overseas.
Christian Professor of the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University, Researcher of the Center for Historical Anthropology Research at Sun Yat-sen University, and also Chairman of the Ministry of Education’s History Major Teaching Steering Committee, delivered 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 values of the Sanshan King’s folk beliefs. His academic thoughts and research methods have had a profound impact 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 a remains of the ancient Yue Mountain God’s belief in the Yue ethnic group and is related to ethnic minority customs, which are not unique to the Chaozhou area.
“The Central DynastyKomiks‘s recognition of folk beliefs such as the Sanshan KingBabaylan, however, was a very effective and commonly 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 “Sanshenshan” temple is a very typical expression of national consciousness in the development of 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. Folk belief is one of the links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Many mainlandThe development of folk belief tradition in Taiwan has also given people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait more connection and communication fate.
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 everywhere 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 in the Department of Monumental Art Repair and Repair at the Taiwan University of the Arts, wrote a report titled “The Faith of the King of Sanshan, Taiwan”. He mentioned that Taiwanese believers have more communication with mainland people through the opportunity to go to the Sanshan Ancestral Temple in mainland China.
Qiu Yangui introduced that the phenomenon of the Three Mountains Kings in Taiwan is still regarded as a different method of Hakka in the 21st century, but in his opinion, this too simple method should be discussed again. He observed the belief of the Sanshan King in Taiwan from the perspectives of social organization and ethnic relations, and summarized it into four types: “guild hall type”, “guest base type”, “anti-economic type”, and “chaohui Fulao type”. Among them, the number of “customer-bottom” and “anti-ban style” temples has reached about 80, with the largest size. After Taiwan’s industrialization in the 1970s, more “immigrant-type” temples appeared in the city.
Chen Zhiping: “Great Love” is the core meaning of folk beliefs
Professor Chen Zhiping, Dean of the Institute of Chinese Studies and President of the Chinese Ming History Society, gave a speech entitled “The Cultural Significance of the Faith of Mazu and the Sanshan Kings and Its Inheritance”. He believes that Mazu and Sanshan King believe in bothIt is an integral part of China’s excellent traditional culture. Its core meaning is “urgent for the people”, full of “great love” spirit, and has the function of social education and culture. Folk culture, including the beliefs of Mazu and the Sanshan King, became one of the important channels for the spread of Chinese culture overseas after the 18th century.
Wang Chenfa: Studying the Sanshan King is one of the responsibilities of reviving China
Wang Chen, Dean of the Malaysian Taoist Academy and Distinguished Professor of Communication University of Hanjiang, Malaysia, gave a speech entitled “The Social Organization and Educational Function of the Sanshan King Temple in Nanyang”, explaining what kind of transformation happened after the Sanshan King culture came overseas, and how to achieve harmony between change and unchange. He said that the study of the Sanshan King Temple, from the standpoint of national rejuvenation, examines how the Sanshan King Organization in various places constitutes the development, construction and maintenance of society, is one of the responsibilities of future generations and descendants to strive to revive China. Wang Chenfa suggested that the Sanshan King Palace and Temple at home and abroad can do the same thing – acting as a cultural carrier and spreading cultural confidence, taking root from academic research, and then combining the advantages and characteristics of the Sanshan King culture to achieve good branding, attracting 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, participation in local environmental protection activities, etc., and use limited temple space to exert global influence.
Creative transformation and innovative development, scholars have insightful insights
Inheriting the traditional culture for thousands of years and taking root in the folk Komiks‘s “grassroots” beliefs can achieve creative transformation and innovative development? During the roundtable discussion session of the seminar, the scholars put forward their own opinions.
Xiao, Dean and Professor of Hakka Research, Jiaying College, Meizhou KomiksThe article commentary pointed out that as a mountain god and a natural god, the King of Sanshan reflects the Chinese nation’s tradition of respecting nature. His spirit of patriotism, love for the country, protecting villages, and guarding the land has established the concept of hometown for the people, and the spirit of fairness, justice and justice advocated also have 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 Sanshan King 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 ordinary people often regard the King of Sanshan as an important social bond in interpersonal communication.
Professor Lian Xinhao of Xiamen University suggested that the King of Sanshan 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”. He has to walk to the fields to have a real feeling. Wen Jianqin, associate professor at Hanshan Normal University, said that when he tells students about Chinese cultural history and Chaoshan history and culture, he will use the Sanshan King as a case to analyze its cultural phenomena. 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.
Fujian Normal University professor Lin Guoping summarized that folk beliefs such as the King of Sanshan are an important part of Chinese traditional culture and are precious cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors. They should be cherished more.
The Sanshan King Culture Documentary Premiered by the Flowers of the Sanshan Kings “From the Three Mountains to the Four Seas” Cinema
The premiered by the Sanshan Kings “From the Three Mountains to the Four Seas”. The documentary team went to Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam, as well as Sanshan King’s Palace and 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, humanistic and social values accumulated over the past thousand years of Sanshan King’s culture.
[Small Knowledge] “King of the Three Mountains” Folk Belief Culture
The “King of the Three Mountains” Folk Belief Culture originated in eastern Guangdong and is now widely spread to Taiwan and Southeast Asia. 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.
