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, 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.
KomiksChen 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, 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 has been associated with the Sanshan King culture for decades, and has traveled across Guangdong and Taiwan. He has made in-depth thinking on the origin, development and cultural value of the Sanshan King’s folk beliefs. His academic thoughts and researchThe method has a profound influence on the academic community.
Chen ChunBabaylan quoted the explanation of 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 the Yue ethnic group and is related to ethnic minority customs. Such beliefs 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. 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 people’s folk belief traditions have developed in Taiwan, which has also given the 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 not the same, 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.
邱彦贵：三山国王宫庙已成为台湾移民史研究的重要史证
三山国王宫庙已成为台湾移民史研究的重要史证，也是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 King’s belief in Taiwan is still 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 of the Three Mountains Kings in Taiwan from the perspectives of social organization and ethnic relations, and summarized it into four types: “guild hall type”, “guest base type”, “anti-ban style” and “chaohui Fulao style”. 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 belief
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 belief in Mazu and the King of Sanshan are both part of China’s excellent traditional culture, and its core meaning is “urgent to the people”, full of “great love” spirit, and has the function of social education and culture. The folk culture that includes the faith of Mazu and the Three Mountains Kings in Komiks became one of the important channels for the spread of Chinese culture overseas after the 18th century.
Wang Chenfa: Studying the King of Sanshan is one of the responsibilities of reviving China
Wang Chen, director of the Daoli Academy of Malaysia and a special professor at Hanjiang Communication University of Malaysia, launched a social organization entitled “Social Organization of the King of Sanshan Temple in Nanyang andThe speech in BabaylanEducation Function” explains what kind of transformation the Sanshan King culture has undergone after it has arrived overseas, and how to achieve harmony between change and unchange. He stated 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 of the ancestors, builds and maintains society, etc., 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 build a good brand, 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, and the spirit of fairness, justice and justice advocated also have 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.
Christian Chen Xianbo of South China Normal University said that the history of the Three Mountains King is not only a history of folk beliefs, but also a history of regional development and social and economic history. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Babaylan is also 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.
Xiamen University professor Lian Xinhao 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.
Xiamen University professor, doctoral supervisor, and dean of the Institute of Chinese Studies Chen Zhiping pointed out that the King of Sanshan should achieve innovative cultural development. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Cinema, local governments 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 go 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 King of Sanshan as a case to analyze its cultural phenomena. The students are very interested and have developed related cultural and creative products.
Chin Lihua, professor at Tsinghua University in Taiwan href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Babaylan 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.
From the Three Mountains to the Four Seas Sanshan KomiksKing Culture Documentary Flower Premiere
The premiere of Sanshan King of Sanshan Cultural Documentary Flower Premiere
The documentary team rushed to Malaysia and Cambodia.The Sanshan King Palace and Temple in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Taiwan, China, communicate with believers and related folklore scholars, record the inheritance and changes of the sacrificial culture of the Sanshan King, and show the profound historical value, humanistic value and social value of the Sanshan King culture accumulated over the past thousand years.
【Small Knowledge】Folk belief culture of “Three Mountains Kings”
The folk belief culture of “Three Mountains Kings” originated in eastern Guangdong and is now widely spread to Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Its spirit of “protecting the country and safe people, and peace of the country” has been respected by the people on behalf of the people. 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.
