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 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, it has been 31 years since the “First Sanshan Ancestral Temple Academic Seminar” from Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, and Malaysia. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>CinemaMore than 10 “Three Mountain Kings” cultural scholars gathered together again to discuss the development and current situation of the folk belief culture of the “Three Mountain Kings” 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 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.
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’s culture for decades, and his footprints are spread all over Guangdong and Taiwan. He has deeply thought about the origin, development and cultural values of the Sanshan King’s folk beliefs. His academic thoughts have been carried out.Ideas and research methods have a profound impact on the academic community. Babaylan
Chen Chunsheng quoted Professor Wolfgang Franke of the University of Hamburg, Germany, who taught in China and Malaysia for a long time, 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 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. The plaque “Protecting the Country and Safeguarding the People” is hung high in many Sanshan Kings’ palaces and temples on the mainland and Taiwan. The Komiks expresses the hope that the gods will maintain a balance between the “nation” and the “people” so that both of them can benefit. Folk faith is one of the links that connects the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The folk belief tradition of many mainland China has developed in Taiwan, which has also given people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to have more connection and communication fate. Chen Chunsheng said that although the customs and habits in various parts of China are very different, China has long been a unified country. CinemaJudgement of 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 also href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Komiks is 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 at the Taiwan University of 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 belief in the Three Mountains of Taiwan is still mostly regarded as a method of identifying Hakka groups in the 21st century, but in his opinion, this overly simple method should be discussed again. He observed the belief in the Three Mountains of Taiwan from the perspectives of social grouping and ethnic relations, and summarized it into four types: “guild hall type”, “guest base type”, “anti-family type” and “chao-hui-family type”. Among them, the number of temples is “guest base type” and “anti-family type” is Cinema has about 80 places and is the largest in 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, President of the Institute of Chinese Studies and President of the Chinese Ming History Society, brought the title “Mazu and the Faith of the King of SanshanKomiks‘s speech. He believes that the beliefs of Mazu and the King of Sanshan are both part of the excellent traditional Chinese culture. Its core meaning is “urgent for the people”, full of “great love” spirit, and has the function of social education and cultural education. Folk culture, including the beliefs 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.
Wang Chenfa: Studying the Sanshan King is one of the responsibilities for reviving China
Wang Chen, Dean of the Malaysian Taoist Academy and Distinguished Professor of the Hanjiang Communication University of Malaysia, gave a speech entitled “The Social Organization and Educational Function of the Sanshan King Temple in Nanyang”, explaining what changes and changes have occurred after the Sanshan King Culture has arrived overseas, and how to achieve harmony between changes 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, etc., is one of the responsibilities of future generations and descendants to strive to revival China. Wang Chenfa href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Cinema suggests that the Sanshan King Palace Temple can do the same thing – 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 brand it, attracting more people to understand the Chinese nation more comprehensively through the Sanshan King. Many new technologies can be used, such as AI, conducting social charity work, participating in local environmental protection activities, etc., and using limited temple space to exert global influence.
Creative transformation and innovative development, scholars have insightful insights
How can the “grassroots” beliefs that have been passed down for thousands of years and be rooted in the folk 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 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’s fear of 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 thatef=”https://funnybookish.com/”>BabaylanFolk belief is an important asset to the country, society and the people, with 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 the Vocational and Technical College of Jieyang, said that his investigation found that the people often regard the King of Sanshan as an important social bond in interpersonal communication.
Xiamen University professor Lian Xinhao suggested that the three kings of the mountains 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 director of the Institute of Chinese Studies, pointed out that the Sanshan King should achieve innovative cultural development, and local governments should take the lead in promoting it.
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 his cultural phenomena. The students are very interested and have developed related cultural and creative products.
Chan 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 Sanshan King 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. Documentary team travels to Malaysia and CambodiaThe South-East Asian countries such as Village and Vietnam, and the Sanshan King Temple and the local Sanshan King Temple in Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, China, communicate with believers and related folk scholars, record the inheritance and changes of the Sanshan King’s sacrificial culture, and showcase the profound historical, humanistic and social values 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.
