Best of Heritage

From the heritage left behind by some of the most illustrious explorers of ancient China to the sacred rituals of southeast Asia, our team has revelled in the cultural splendour of some of the oldest civilisations on Earth

From the heritage left behind by some of the most illustrious explorers of ancient China to the sacred rituals of Southeast Asia, our team has revelled in the cultural splendour of some of the oldest civilisations on Earth

Revisited

No.99 Issue 6/2013

Title

Oh Heavens, from Eunuch to God

Admiral Zheng He’s leap to Sam Po fame

Text

Khong Swee Lin

Photos

Carl-Bernd Kaehlig What do Mr Guan Gong, Miss Lin Moliang and Mr Ma He have in common? Apart from their common ethnicity (being of Chinese origin), and their respective demises in 219 CE (59 years), 987 CE (28 years) and 1433 CE (62 years), these individuals were posthumously propelled into other-worldly halls of fame, thanks to their exemplary conduct and good deeds on Earth, fuelled by nothing less than Chinese pragmatism, practicality and purpose. Ensconced in temples dedicated to themselves (obviously a bit of a surprise to them), and now deified, the trio labour on instead of resting in peace, in a kind of heavenly task force, righting wrongs, raising the downtrodden, basically doing the same jobs they had done as mortals. Hence, images of Guan Di (the god of war and Guan Gong’s deity-name) and Matsu (the goddess of the sea and Lin Moliang’s deity-name) dot places of worship along the south China coast, Southeast Asian islands, archipelagos and peninsulas settled by generations of intrepid Overseas Chinese.