Chinese Myth Figures 中国神话人物 08 Town God 城隍

The town god, or  "Cheng Huang" in Chinese, is a local guardian god of ghostdom according to Taoism. It was originated from sacrificial practices in ancient times. "Cheng" originally refers to high wall built with earth, while "Huang" refers to dry moat outside a city wall. The ancient people built city walls to guard the safety of people in town, and therefore there appeared high ramparts, towers, gates, city walls and moat. In their minds, god appeared in everything closely related to people's life and safe production, for which the city wall and moat were sanctified as the guardian of the town. Moreover, since the town god holds a position equal to mayor in real world, people's worship to the town god has evolved along with the development of city.

It was not until the Three Kingdoms Period that the Town God's Temple appeared. In the Sui Dynasty, it became a custom to offer animal sacrifices to the town god. The belief in town god bloomed in the Tang and Song dynasties, while in the Song Dynasty, sacrificial offerings to the town god was ranked as national ceremony. In the Ming Dynasty, people showed special respect to the God of Earth and the town god, as Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming, was born in the Temple of the God of Earth. For this reason, the Town God's Temples were built one after another in every town during the time.

People always regarded the town god as an ideal local official in the shape of some famous historical figure after death, so that more often than not, heroes, virtuous feudal officials and great generals were honored as the town god in different places, in the hope that they would continue to reward the good and punish the evil after death and bless the people a rich life and good health.