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 “Two-Strait·Three Mountains·Four Seas” King Academic Seminar on the “Two-Strait·Three Mountains·Four Seas” was held at the South Campus of the Guangzhou Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, hosted by Yangcheng Evening News Group and co-organized by Sun Yat-sen University People’s Social Sciences Department and the Guangdong Cross-Strait Exchange Promotion Association. 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 core of folk beliefs and promote communication and exchanges among Chinese and overseas Chinese
Since Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawThe first Sanshan Ancestral Temple Academic Seminar” in Jiexi, Jieyang City in October 1992, more than 10 “Sanshan Country” from Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and Malaysia, ChinaBabaylan 1990 cloth draw” cultural scholars gathered together again to discuss the development and current situation of the folk belief culture of the “Three Mountains Kings” and the history and path of its 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 and exchanges between Chinese and overseas Chinese at home and abroad.
Chen Chunsheng: Babaylan 1990 cloth drawThe 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 history of Sun Yat-sen University. Drama Researcher at the Center for Anthropology Research and also serves as the Chairman of the Teaching Steering Committee of History Majors of the Ministry of Education, Chen Chunsheng gave a keynote report entitled “National Consciousness and the Spread of the Faith of the Three Mountains Kings Since the Song Dynasty”. Chen Chunsheng has been associated with the Three Mountains Kings culture for decades, and has traveled across Guangdong and Taiwan. He has thought deeply about the origin, development and cultural value of the Three Mountains Kings’ folk beliefs. His academic thoughts and research methods have had a profound impact on the academic community.
Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawAcademic thoughts and research methods have been cited in China and Komiks 1960 witch cloth drawProfessor Wolfgang Franke of Hamburg University, Germany, who has taught for a long time in Malaysia, pointed out that the so-called “Sanshan King” may be a remains of the ancient Yue mountain god’s beliefs and are related to ethnic minority customs. Such beliefs are not unique to the Chaozhou area.
“Babaylan 1990 cloth drawThe central dynasty’s recognition of folk beliefs such as the Sanshan King was a very effective and commonly adopted method that the ancient Chinese central dynasty ruled the southern region. “Chen Chunsheng focused on the interaction between “national consciousness” and civil society in his speech Cinema 1950 witch cloth draw. He believed that the practice of Song Huizong awarding the “Mingsheng” temple to the “Three Shenshan” temple in Chaozhou was a very typical expression of national consciousness in the developed southern civil society. The plaque of “Protecting the Country and Safeguarding the People” was hung high in many Sanshan king palaces and temples in mainland China and Taiwan, 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 connecting the two sides of the strait. Many folk belief traditions in mainland China have developed in Taiwan, which has also given the people on both sides of the strait more connection and communication fate.
Cinema 1950 witch cloth drawCinema 1950 witch cloth drawChen Chunsheng said that although the customs and habits in different parts of China have been 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 the 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 the national ideology and dynasty rules and regulations can we have a more relevant 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 historyCinema 1950 witch cloth draw
The Sanshan King Palace Temple has become a research on Taiwan’s immigration historyKomiks 1960 witch cloth The important historical evidence of the draw study is also a symbol of the ancestral homes of relatives in Chaoshan and Hakka towns in Taiwan. The report of Professor Qiu Yangui of the Department of Ancient Monuments and Arts of Taiwan University of the Arts is titled “The Faith of the King of Sanshan, Taiwan”. He mentioned that Taiwanese believers have more communication with mainland people through the opportunity to search for their roots in the Sanshan Ancestral Temple in mainland China.comminicate.
Qiu Yangui introduced Komiks 1960 witch cloth draw that the phenomenon of the Three Mountains King’s belief in Taiwan is still regarded as a method of identification of Hakka groups in the 21st century, but in his opinion, this overly simple method should be discussed again. He observed the belief of the Three Mountains Kings in Taiwan from the perspectives of social organization Babaylan 1990 clothes draw and ethnic relations, and summarized it into four types: “guild hall type”, “custom-type”, “fast-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
Xiamen University Chinese Studies Research Institute Dean and President of the Chinese Ming History Society, Professor Chen Zhiping 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. The core meaning is “urgent what the people are anxious about”, full of “great love” spirit, and have 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 King of the Three MountainsCinema 1950 wikih clothes draw is one of the responsibilities of reviving China
Wang Chen, Dean of the Malaysian Daoli Academy and Distinguished Professor of Communication University of Malaysia, made a speech entitled “The Social Organization of the Sanshan King Temple in Nanyang Babaylan 1990 clothes draw and the Educational Function”, 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 – acting as a cultural carrier and spreading cultural confidence, and 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
How to inherit the traditional culture for thousands of years and take root in the folk “grassroots” beliefs 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 of Meizhou, pointed out that as a mountain god and a natural god, the King of Sanshan reflects the tradition of the Chinese nation to respect 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 times.
Xie Guiwen, a professor at Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, believes that folk beliefs are important assets for the country, society and the people, and have survival functions and integration 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 told students about Chinese cultural history and Chaoshan history and cultureKomiks 1960 witch cloth draw, he would use the Sanshan King as a case to analyze his cultural phenomena. The students were very interested and 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, 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 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, 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 Province is the ancestral temple of the Sanshan King Palace Temple in the world.He was awarded the “Cross-Strait Exchange Base” in 2023.
