Story Ong Quan De / Ong Quan Binh / Ong Chau Xuon
From: Nicolas Lainez <niklainez@yahoo.com>
Date: 2008/10/24
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear list,
Does anybody know the stories of the Chinese saints Ông Quan Đế (red face, long moustache), Ông Quan Bình and Ông Chau Xương? They often appear together, and they can be worshiped in their own temples or miếu. They can also về xắc or possessed humans for special occasions (full moon, divination, to cure illness, etc.).
I’d much appreciate any comment or reference about that.
Thanks in advance.
Regards.
Nicolas Lainez
Ecole des Hautes en Sciences Sociales
Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale
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From: Hue-Tam Ho Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: 2008/10/24
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Quan De is also Quan Cong/Guan Yu. There is a good wikipedia entry for Guan Yu in English and a good one on Quan Vu in the Vietnamese wikipedia. He is a historical figure of the late Eastern Han (Latter Han) dynasty and a character in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Quan Binh (Guan Ping) is his adopted son. He is also a character in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. There is also a wikipedia entry for Quan Ping. I have not been able to find a reference to Chau Xuong on the internet, but I believe he is also a character in the Three Kingdoms. This work is a major source of cultural references in Vietnam and China, akin to the Iliad and the Odyssey in Western cultures. Quite a few of the figures in it are objects of worship, especially, I would aver, in the South, where the influence of Chinese popular culture is very strong.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
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From: Hue-Tam Ho Tai <hhtai@fas.harvard.edu>
Date: 2008/10/24
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
I worked out the pinyin for Chau Xuong (Zhou Cang) and he does have his own wikipedia entry.
"After Guan Yu was made a deity, Zhou Cang was made part of the holy trio, along with Guan Yu's adopted son Guan Ping. His face is often portrayed as coal black, a stark contrast to Guan Ping's pure white features, and Guan Yu's shades or red."
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From: Mike High <mike.high@earthlink.net>
Date: 2008/10/26
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
The most complete English-language description that I have read of the cult of Guan Yu/Guan Di is “Superscribing Symbols: The Myth of Guandi, Chinese God of War,” Prasenjit Duara in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 4 (Nov., 1988). Some other useful sources:
* Qing Dynasty interest and number of temple in Peking, see Peking, Temples and City Life, 1400-1900, Susan Naquin, pages 327-328
* Replaces Taigong Wang as imperial God of War, see “Sacrifice and the Imperial Cult of Confucius,” Thomas A. Wilson in History of Religions, Vol. 41, No. 3, February, 2002
The VSG had an interesting discussion of Guan Yu/Quan Cong back in April (April 3-9). Since my posts in that thread, I’ve been back to some of the temples in the north that have altars to Quan Cong (or have had altars removed). Also, after seeing references to “Quan Thanh Quan Cong” in Cholon temples, I’m now pretty certain that “Quan Thanh” (“Holy Minister”?) is an honorary title for Quan Cong, as noted by others in that discussion thread.
My earlier confusion stemmed from the “Quan Thanh” temple in Hanoi, which was founded in the beginning of the Ly Dynasty to worship an earlier Sinic god called Tran Vu (Chinese Zhenwu or Bei Dei). Tran Vu is pretty hard to miss, as he is depicted in an 8-ton statue of black bronze with his unique attributes, a sword with snake and tortoise. Today, there is no sign of Quan Cong in the temple, so the popular name of the temple must be either a confusion of names (Tran Vu/Quan Vu) or a vestige of earlier days, when Quan Cong might have had a separate altar in the temple (as did Van Xuong).
·
In my earlier post, I mentioned the demotion of Quan Cong in many northern temples, such as the Ngoc Son temple on Hoan Kiem Lake. Quan Cong used to occupy the high altar in the rear chamber of Ngoc Son. That place is now taken by Tran Hung Dao, and Quan Cong shares space with Van Xuong and La To in the middle hall.
I also mentioned Hong Son Temple in Vinh, which used to be called the Vo Mieu and worshipped Quan Cong. In May, I went back to the Hong Son temple and took a closer look. Although the modern signage at the entrance says that it is a temple to the Hung Kings, Tran Hung Dao, and Lieu Hanh, I was delighted to see that Quan Cong is still there, seated in anonymous splendor in the rear chamber, which is closed to the public on most days. (Also, to my surprise, a recent official posting about Nghe An’s “year of tourism” in 2005 openly stated that Hong Son temple is dedicated to “Quan Van Truong,” yet another name for Quan Cong.)
:: Mike High
Great Falls, Virginia
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From: JAMMES Jérémy <jjammes@yahoo.com>
Date: 2008/10/27
Subject: [Vsg] Story Ong Quan De vs Caodai
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear List,
“Quan Cong” is a very stimulating subject, and I'd like to thank Nicolas Lainez and Mike High to have shared their view and their up-dated data. I just would like to share again with you some data and suggestions about this Quan Cong cult into Caodaism.
Caodaist worshippers do not make a distinction between Quan Cong and Quan Thanh De Quan.
Quan Cong appears in the Caodaist calendar on the 24th day of the 6th lunar month.
The Chinese general Guan Yu (Quan Dê, Quan Công or Quan Vo in Vietnamese) is known as a spirit who is often called during Caodaist séances of “automatic writing” (or spirit-writing). This case certainly shed lights on the continuous bonds between both a literary and an action practice. Regarding this idea, I would like to point out that the iconography of Quan Cong depicts this famous General with a flaming red face, carrying a halberd (warfare, action) in a hand and the book of “Springs and Autumn” (wisdom, literacy) in the other. His name sounds with bravery, as well as morality.
In Caodaism, the name of Quan Cong makes sense especially at the beginning of the XXth Century (as in China, see below). It is obvious that the name of this divinity is recurring when we observe the biography of Ngo Van Chieu, the first Vietnamese men to speak about a divinity represented by an Eye (the Eye of the Master Cao Dai alias the Jade Emperor for the Caodaist adepts).
Indeed, the modest house of Ngo Van Chieu’s parents was settled in Cholon, exactly behind a temple dedicated to this divinized Chinese General (Duong Chua or Tran Van Kieu Street today). It was in the late XIXth Century and the beginning of the XXth.
Before his religious (or "Caodaist") revelation on the island of Phu Quoc, Ngo Van Chieu took part in 1902 at a spirit-mediumship seance in a Minh Thien pagoda located in Thu Dau Mot. This pagoda (which had changed its name into Thanh An Tu when Minh Thien followers decided to be called “Caodaist”, so after 1926) was built before 1902 and it was mainly dedicated to the worship of Quan Cong (see the Caodaist historian Hue Nhan, 1999).
Furthermore, in 1909, when Ngo Van Chieu moved to Tân An, he rented a house along the river, close to a Quan Cong temple. He would have discovered at that time the collection of oracles of this Chinese General, entitled “Minh Thanh Kinh Linh Sam (the "Holy and Luminous Book of the Marvellous Oracles").
In 1919 and 1920, Ngo Van Chieu returned to the Minh Thien pagoda, worshipped Quan Cong in order to obtain cures and oracles for his mother.
The fact is that the Chinese myth around the General Guan Yu is closely related to the spirit-mediumship activity (see Schipper, 1997).
Beside, in the 1920s, Guan Yu (Quan Cong) holds a major place in the development of emergent sectarian movements and spirit-mediumship groups (in Taiwan in particular). Guan Yu is presented like begging the Jade Emperor to enable him to establish spirit-writing groups. The aim of these séances was to receive orders and oracles from Jade Emperor himself in order to save humanity from disorder (this last sentence is exactly the leitmotiv of the Caodaist too!). In the 1920s, the Chinese General of the Three Kingdoms (Guan Yu) was at some séances considered like a "new Jade Emperor" (see Jordan and Overmyer, 1986).
In my PhD thesis, I had made some hypothesis (that I can just give an abstract here) about the possible bonds between Quan Cong and the supreme figure of the Master Cao Dai (or Jade Emperor).
Best,
Jérémy Jammes
Post Doctorate Researcher
Groupe Sociétés Religions Laïcités (CNRS-EPHE, Paris)
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From: JAMMES Jérémy <jjammes@yahoo.com>
Date: 2008/10/28
Subject: [Vsg] Story Ong Quan De vs Caodai
To: Mike High <mike.high@earthlink.net>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Mike,
The title of the Schipper's work I have quoted is his famous Le Corps Taoiste, Edition Fayard, 1997 [1st edition 1982].
The more detailed descriptions of the Cao Dai ceremony performed at Tây Ninh can be find in the un-published Master thesis of Dinh Van Kha: Dai Lê Via duc Chi Tôn trong Dai Dao Tam Ky Phô Dô (Toa Thanh Tây Ninh), ie. the Great Ritual in Honour of Celestial Lord in the Cao Dai Religion (at the Holy See of Tây Ninh). This Master thesis (tiêu luân Cao Hoc Nhân Van) was defended in 1975 at Truong Dai Hoc Van Khoa, Viên Dai Hoc Sai Gon.
Reference with Vietnamese tones:
ĐINH VĂN KHÁ, Đại Lễ Vía Đức Chí Tôn trong Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh, Tiểu Luận Cao Học Nhân Văn, Trường Đại Học Văn Khoa, Viện Đại Học Saigon, 1975.
It would be easier to find the 1st PhD thesis on Caodaism, held by Pierre Bernardini and named: Le Caodaïsme au Cambodge, Thèse de Doctorat 3ème cycle en Histoire : Université de Paris, 1974. I have started to actualize this work and the publishing of this study is in progress.
Best Wishes,
Jérémy