China is a country with a long history and rich resources of national culture China's ancient history is the root of modern Chinsese culture. It is audible, visible and touchable. Through the ages, unique traditions have exerted an influence on the Chinese people's thinking and behaviour, Stories about gods, ghosts, fairies and spirits have merged in the course of social progress. This shows that China had developed its own national tradition in creating gods since ancient times. With abundant historical material and exhausitive studies over many years, the author provides a vivid and interesting account of the twentynine widely known and revered gods who influenced the lives of the Chinese people for many centuries. They include the Bodhisattva Guanyin, a goddess who helps the needy and relieves the distressed; Kitchen God, who is in charge of blessing the mortal King of Hell, sovereign of the ghost world; Jade Emperor, the highest ruler in heaven; and Jiang Taigong, who is responsible for granting titles to gods. Why and how are they enshrined and worshipped by the masses even by the rulers? This book gives the answers scientifically and objectively, thus presenting one aspect of the Chinese popular culture, This is helpful in the understanding of people's religious beliefs, and of achaeology, history, sociology, psychology, and folk literature.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Inadequate Coverage of a Fascinating Subject,
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This review is from: The Origin of Chinese Deities (Paperback)
Anyone who as visited Taiwan or China has encountered highly decorated temples that may be Buddhist, Taoist, or even related to some of the older religious strands. Since those from Western cultures, have very little backgrounds in these religious traditions, one mainly can look with wonder rather than with real appreciation. Moreover, as beautiful as these temples are, their dense symbology cries out for a deeper understanding to appreciate the ornate artwork that tells many, many stories. Although this book attempts to bridge that gap, it only makes a few tenuous footsteps, and badly at that. Although the author has picked some of the more important deities, there is almost no organization, nor even underlying thread to the book. Given the millenia of artwork to draw upon, the illustrations are poor examples and often badly reproduced. This is a real shame, because it then makes it quite hard to link up many of these deities with the images one might see in temples or artwork. Another problem with the deities is that although they are often based on historical characters, there are many conflicting stories and legends. Instead of trying to make sense of these parallel narratives, the author strings together several of these stories, leaving one to wonder how to make sense of it all. Alas the author gets an A for effort but D for execution.
6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Somtimes good often funny,
By Kip (Reykjavík, Iceland Iceland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Origin of Chinese Deities (Paperback)
In a way this is a good lithel book. At least it was the only one a found on the subject when á was in China. The storyes are godd but sometimes ther inturpitation is to simple and in the spirit of communisum. This is not folklore!!
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