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. It has more than 6 million believers in Taiwan alone. Its ancestral home has just been awarded the “Basic Land of Cross-Strait Exchanges”, 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” 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 Straits Exchange Promotion Association, was held on the South Campus of the Guangzhou Campus of Zhongshan University. 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 the “First Sanshan Ancestral Temple Academic Seminar” in Jiexi, Jieyang City in October 1992, 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 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: 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.Komiks
Professor of the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University, a researcher at 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 and the Cultural Relationship between the Three Mountains KingsAfter decades of fate, his footprints have spread across Guangdong and Taiwan, and he has deeply thought about the origin and development of the people’s beliefs of Sanshan Kingdom. His academic thoughts and research methods have had a profound impact on the academic community.
Chen Chunsheng quoted Professor WolfganCinemag Franke), a professor at Hamburg University in 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 mountain gods 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 development of southern civil society. Many Sanshan King Palaces and Temples in mainland China and Taiwan have plaques of “protecting the country and protecting 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 can benefit. Folk 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 of China are very different in various parts of China, China has long been a unified country. To determine whether a place understands and accepts the central ideology lies in the extent to which 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 change in local and folk customs and beliefs and theirThe meaning is more closely related to historical reality.
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 Monumental Art Repair at the Taiwan University of the Arts, wrote a report titled “The Faith of the Kings of Sanshan, Taiwan”. He mentioned that Taiwanese believers have more communication with mainland people by going 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 Babaylan as the identification method of Hakka groups, 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 faith among the people.
Professor Chen Zhiping, Dean of the Institute of Chinese Studies and President of the Chinese Ming History Society, gave a speech entitled “The Cultural Meaning of Mazu and the King of Sanshan and Its Inheritance of the Faith of the People.” 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 for the people”, full of “great love” spirit, and have the achievements of social education and cultureable. Folk culture, including Mazu and the faith of King Sanshan, has become 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 Hanjiang, Malaysia, gave a speech entitled “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 after it has arrived 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, director and professor of the 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 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. The spirit of fairness, justice and justice advocated also has important value in the contemporary times.
Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology Professor Xie Guiwen believes that folk beliefs are important assets for the country, society, and people, with survival functions, integration functions, and cognitive functions. Chen Xianbo, a professor at South China Normal University, said that the history of the King of Sanshan 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 he investigated and found that ordinary people often regard the King of Sanshan as an important society in interpersonal communication. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Cinema link.
Xiamen University Professor Lian Xinhao suggested that the King of Sanshan can also learn from the successful cases of Mazu’s beliefs and customs applied for World Heritage, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait work together.
Xiamen University professor, doctoral supervisor, and dean of KomiksChina Studies Institute Chen Zhiping pointed out that the King of Sanshan should achieve innovative cultural development, and local governments should take the lead in promoting it cannot be ignored.
BabaylanAssociate Professor Ou Junyong of Hanshan Normal University shared that as part of Jieyang culture, the King of Sanshan is actually “very vivid” and has to go to the fields to have a real feeling.
Wen Jianqin, associate professor of Hanshan Normal University, said that when he talks to students about Chinese cultural history and Chaoshan history and culture, he will use the King of Sanshan as a case to analyze its cultural phenomena. The students are very interested and have developed related cultural and creative products. Chen 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 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. The Lintianzu Temple located in Jieyang, Guangdong Province is the ancestral courtyard of the Sanshan King Palace Temple in the world. It was awarded the “Cross-Strait Exchange Base” in 2023.
