The City Deity (Cheng Huang aka sheng ong in hokkien)
Origins of the Worship
The City deity (Chenghuang) is the spirit who protects the cities
and blesses the people, and is in charge of registers in the nether
world. Explanations of the Chinese Characters says, "Cheng contains
the people"; "Huang refers to the city wall and moat", and a "place
without water is called Huang". The ancient meaning of Chenghuang
is city moat.
So Ban Gu wrote, "build palaces and dredge the city moat".
Chenghuang as the name of a spirit was firstly recorded in the
"Biography of Murong Yan" in the History of the Northern Qi
Dynasty. The biography says that Murong Yan guarded a city, in
which "there was formerly a sacred shrine, and the divine was
commonly called the City deity, to whom people often prayed both
officially and popularly". The worship of the City deity became
popular gradually after the Sui and Tang dynasties. The section
"Official in Charge of Household Registration of Prefecture Xuan"
in the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era says that people
dreaded ghosts in Wu, so "every prefecture and county needed the
City deity".
During the Five Dynasties, the City deity was already granted
titles by imperial order. For example, the City deity of Hangzhou
was titled the "King Who Follows Righteousness and Protects Peace",
the City deity of Huzhou was titled the "King Who Enriches the
People and Pacifies the City", and the City deity of Mengzhou was
titled the "King of Numinous Response". In the Song dynasty, the
worship of the City deity was classified as a national sacrificial
rite. Records Made After the Guests Have Left written by Zhaoyushi
of the Song dynasty mentions the worship of the City deity, saying,
"Today the worship of the City deity prevails almost all over the
country. The imperial family bestows temple inscriptions to him or
confers titles of nobility to him. The nameless City deities take
over the names of the spirits of their neighbouring prefectures, or
use the names spread among the people. So they have various names
in different prefectures and countries".
Following the ceremonies of the Song dynasty, the temples of the
City deity were set up in the Highest Capital and the Great Capital
during the Yuan dynasty, and the City deity of the Great Capital
was given the title "Saintly Protector King". The worship of the
City deity developed to its highest point in the Ming dynasty. In
the second year of Hongwu during the reign of the First Emperor of
the Ming dynasty (AD 1369), the City God of the capital was given
the title "Bright and Numinous King Who Supervises the State,
Governs the People and Increases Happiness by Heavenly Order"; the
City deites of Kaifeng, Linbao, Taiping, Hezhou and Chuzhou were
given the first principal rank, and other City deities of superior
prefectures as the second principal rank; the City Gods of greatest
prefectures were titled the "Marquises of Numinous Protection" and
granted the third principal rank; the City deites of counties were
titled the "Earls Who Manifest Protection" and granted the fourth
rank. Simultaneously, it was regulated that the halls of the City
deity should be set up after the pattern of government offices.
They should be as high and wide as government offices, and
corresponding imperial robes and crowns should be provided.
The First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty explained his intentions in a
series of popularizations of the belief in the City God, saying, "I
hold the City deity in esteem in order to make people obey the
country's law and order. They dare not act recklessly". The worship
of the City deity of the Qing dynasty continued to use the systems
of the Ming dynasty. The officials of senior prefectures, greatest
prefectures and counties of the Ming and Qing dynasties were
required to firstly offer sacrifices to the City deity when they
assumed office.
Protecting and Bringing Peace to the Country:
The major responsibility of the City deity is to protect the common
people in his own city, including both protecting the safety and
peace of the common people, and supervising the officials in this
world and redressing their errors. The City God governs in Heaven's
name, gets rid of villains, protects and brings peace to the
country, benefits all things, judges people's life and death, and
bestows people happiness and longevity.
The section "Investigations on Various Cults" in the Supplementary
General Investigations on Important Writings quotes the First
Emperor of the Ming dynasty, saying, "I arranged the City deity of
the capital to command the spirits of superior prefectures, greater
prefectures and counties, in order to inspect the good and evil
doings of the people and then bring them good fortunes or
disasters.
Neither the dead nor the living can be exempt". According to the
"Biography of Murong Yan" in the History of the Northern Qi
Dynasty, the armies of Liang of the Southern Dynasties stacked
reeds so as to cut off the water route of the city Murong Yan was
guarding. Then after Murong prayed to the City deity, wind rose and
waves surged, which burst the reeds and rescued the army and
civilians guarding the city.
Managing Nether World Registers:
Volume 124 of the Extensive Records of the Taiping Era quotes the
Records of Retribution, saying that Wang Jianyi, Minister of War of
Haongzhou in the Tang dynasty "was often suddenly seized with
severe illnesses. He dreamed of a ghost envoy, who called himself
Ding Ying and, holding a talismanic certificate in his hand, said
that he was chasing after him by the command of the City God. Then
Wang Jianyi followed the envoy to see the City deity.
The spirit ordered the attendants to fetch the underworld register
to check. After that, he told Jianyi that he could still live for
five years and he could be freed". This shows that the City deity
was already concurrently in charge of household registers in the
nether world. Nowadays, apart from the statue of the principal City
deity, those of the judges and runners in the Fengdu Hell, who are
the attendants assisting the City deity in managing the household
registers in the nether world, are also enshrined in the temples of
the City deity.
In Taoist rites, when the soul of the newly deceased is being
surrounded, a "certificate" is always sent to the City deity in
order to tell him to escort the soul to the altar place and offer
food for it to take a form and wait for salvation. This reflects
the fact that the City deity is in charge of household registers in
the nether world.