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 never been popular. In Taiwan alone, there are more than 6 million believers. Its ancestor is just 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 Babaylan core to promote communication and exchanges among Chinese and overseas Chinese
Since the “First Sanshan Ancestral Temple Academic Seminar” in Jiexi, Jieyang City in October 1992, more than 10 people from Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and Malaysia, ChinaBabaylanThe “Three Mountains King” cultural scholars gathered together again to discuss the development and current situation of the folk belief culture of the “Three Mountains King” and its history and path of dissemination at home and abroad.
Four experts issued a keynote report, through the tracing of historical materials and the current situation, they explored the spiritual core of the folk belief of the “Three Mountains Kings” and demonstrated the important role played by the “Three Mountains Kings” culture in uniting the hearts of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and promoting 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.
Professor of the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University and a researcher at the Center for Research on Historical Anthropology of Sun Yat-sen University. He also serves as the Members’ Meeting of the Teaching Guidance Committee of History Majors of the Ministry of Education.Chairman 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’s 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 Professor Wolfgang Franke of the German University of Hamburg, 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 mountain gods and is related to ethnic minority customs. Such belief customs are not unique to the Chaozhou area. “The Central Dynasty recognized the folk beliefs of the Three Mountains Kings and Komiks, which was a very effective and widely adopted method that the Central Dynasty of China ruled the southern region in ancient times.” In his speech, Chen Chunsheng focused on the interaction 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 Kings in mainland China and Taiwan have plaques hanging high in the temples of Komiks, expressing the hope that the gods will maintain a balance between the country and the people, so that both can benefit. CinemaFolk belief is one of the links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Many folk belief traditions in mainland China have developed in Taiwan, which 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 studiesOnly by having a systematic grasp and deep understanding of the national ideology and dynasty rules and regulations can we have a more intimate understanding of the changes in local and folk customs and beliefs Komiks and their significance.
Qiu Yangui: The Sanshan King’s Palace Temple has become an important historical evidence for the study of Taiwan’s immigration history
Sanshan King’s Palace Temple has become an important historical evidence for the study of Taiwan’s immigration history, and is also 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 “Taiwan CinemaThe Faith of Kings of Sanshan”. He mentioned that Taiwanese believers have more communication 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 Kings in Taiwan is still regarded as a method of identifying Hakka Cinema groups in the 21st century, but in his opinion, this overly 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 the beliefs of Mazu and the Sanshan King are both part of China’s excellent traditional culture, and their core meaning is “urgent to the people”, full of “great love” spirit, and have the function of social education and culture.Folk culture, including the beliefs of KomiksMazu and the King of Sanshan, 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 Daoli Academy and Distinguished Professor of Communication University of Malaysia, issued a question. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Babaylan gave a speech on “The Social Organization and Educational Function of the Sanshan King Temple in Nanyang”, explaining what kind of transformation the Sanshan King culture has taken place 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 can do the same thing at home and abroad – act as a cultural carrier and spread cultural confidence. We must take root from academic research, and then combine the advantages and characteristics of the Sanshan King culture to build a good brand 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, participation in local environmental protection activities, etc., and use the limited Babaylan temple space to exert global influence.
Creative transformation and innovative development, scholars’ insights are exquisitely inherited from the traditional culture that has been rooted in thousands of years and taken root among the people. How to achieve creative transformation and innovative development? During the roundtable discussion session of the seminar, the scholars put forward their own opinions.
Xiao Wenping, Dean and Professor of Hakka Research Institute of Jiaying College, MeizhouIt is 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. Komiks
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 the 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” 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 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.
Professor Chen Lihua of 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, summarized that folk beliefs such as the King of Sanshan are an important part of Chinese traditional culture and were left to me by ancestors.Our precious cultural heritage should be cherished.
The Sanshan King Culture Documentary Premiere of the Flowers of the Sanshan Kings Culture Documentary
The meeting also held the premiere of the Sanshan Kings Culture Documentary Premiere of the Flowers of the Sanshan Kings Culture Documentary Premiere. The documentary team went to Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries and the Sanshan King’s Palace Temple in Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan and other places in 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 value of the Sanshan King’s culture accumulated over the past thousand years.
[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.
