God Guan Gong displayed in police station is rich in meaning

This article comes from today's issue of The Liberty Times. When I was rereading the last translation post on this blog, I noticed there were a lot of awkward phrases in it, so I tried harder this time to make it sound more natural.


By Huang Lixiang and Huang Wenhuang

Idols of Guan Gong are often found in police organizations, especially in investigative units, in the hope that officers will imitate the god's dedication to integrity and justice. Many conventions have arose regarding the placement of Guan Gong, some resonable and some farfetched.

A senior police captain of an investigative unit in Taipei county states that Guan Gong idols are found in almost all of the Taipei county's 15 stations, especially in the offices of the criminal justice units. Unlike in Hong Kong movies, however, police do not burn incense or otherwise publicly worship the idols. Rather, the idols are primarily pieces of art. Although it is not an object of worship, the Guan Gong image is invested with meaning according to its placement, posture and the direction of the blade.

A senior officer states that Guan Gong idols can be classified as literary or martial. The literary Guan Gong is depicted reading the Spring and Autumn Annals, while the martial Guan Gong is depicted holding a scimitar. Police have traditionally favored the martial Guan Gong, whose display of strength and military might serves to intimidate criminals. In recent years, with the increase in popularity of higher learning among police, so the literary Guan Gong has gained popularity, as well as the literary and martial Guan Gong, in which he is depicted with the Spring and Autumn Annals in his left hand and a scimitar in his right hand.

The officer asserts that Guan Gong's expression is usually a reflection of the attitude of the owner. For example, if a new captain of an investigative unit places a Guan Gong with an austere expression on display, subordinates will be dissuaded from engaging in favoritism or corruption. If Guan Gong's blade points inward, the new officer may focus on rectification of internal practices; if the blade points outward, it might indicate preparation for a shakedown of the captain's area of jurisdiction.

The officer explains that there are many taboos dealing with Guan Gong's blade. It is important that the blade's edge not face oneself, so as to avoid inviting a bloodbath. Furthermore, it is rumored that if the blade falls, the police unit will encounter a mishap. Some even associate the dropping of Guan Gong's scimitar with cases of inappropriate conduct and discipline.

Veterans support each other for 50 years, arrange to be buried together

This article comes from the United Daily News. I cut it out of the newspaper when it appeared in October last year, and just now got around to translating it.


By Wu Mingliang

Veterans Yi Tiancheng, Fang Jitang and Ni Jin have supported each other for 50 years. Ni Jin, who has a family, took in his two single friends to live with him. The three made a pact to be buried together. Yi and Fang bequeathed their inheritance to Ni to be used for worship offerings in the future. Ni Jin exhorts his son, "When we have passed away, you should make offerings to Uncle Yi and Uncle Fang just as if they were your father."

In 2005, when Fang Jitang passed away, Yi Tiancheng and Ni Jin held his funeral. Tainan's Veterans Service Department refused to pass on the inheritance to Ni Jin because "the authenticity of the will could not be determined." Ni Jin then filed a civil suit. Tainan district court believed that the will was written clearly; it clearly stated that the inheritance should be handled by Ni Jin. The court ruled that the Veterans Service Department should turn over the the inheritance of over NT$660,000 to Ni Jin.

Photo of Ni Jin by reporter Wu Mingliang

"In our decades serving as soldiers, we stressed feelings and brotherhood," says 78-year-old Ni Jin. Yi Tiancheng is 13 years older than him and Fang Jitang was six years older. "They are both my elder brothers," he says. In his early years as a soldier, pay was meager and he had four children to support. His two brothers would often give him two or three thousand dollars to support him. "Since they were young, my children were brought up by them, just like their own children."

Ni Jin is from Jiangsu. In 1945, he came to Taiwan with the military and entered the 93rd division, in the same unit as Yi Tiancheng, who is from Sichuan, and Fang Jitang, from Zhejiang. The three looked after one another and became fast friends. In 1966 Ni Jin transferred into the Garrison Command's coast guard. He was allotted residence in the Jingzhong Sancun residential area for military families. He treated Yi and Fang like his own family; when they were on leave they would come and stay.

In 1979, Yi and Fang retired from service, one after the other. In the empty space next to his residence, Ji Jin built a house to accommodate his two friends and allow them to live together. "Whatever my family eats, they eat the same thing," he says. A few years earlier, because his son married and had children, Ni Jin moved to a house on Zhonghua South Rd. in Tainan. Yi Tiancheng worried that it would be too crowded for them, so he stayed at the apartment in Jingzhong Sancun. Ni Jin went to visit and chat with his friends every day.

"We were born on different days and will die at different times, but we'll be buried together," said Ni Jin. The three men bought spaces at the ossuary of Tiandu Chan Temple in Tainan. They arranged to be together every day, even after they pass on.

Since Fang Jitang passed away, Ni Jin takes his children to the Tiandu Chan Temple to worship on the anniversary of Fang's death, on Tomb Sweeping day, and during the lunar new year. Ni Jin humorously notes that when you pass away, most people's descendants only come to worship on the anniversary of death, Tomb Sweeping Day, and the lunar new year, but for the three friends, they will have three different death anniversary days, so their sons will have to make two more trips each year. "Each year, we'll have two more meals than other people. Isn't that good?"

Taiwanese temple honors WWII Japanese officers

This article was in the Liberty Times on October 30. I found the article online in a couple of places, but only one of the photos from the newspaper was reproduced online. The first picture, shown below, is the temple. The second, more interesting photo, showed the joss with the traditional Chinese headdress and a Japanese moustache. The article, by Wu Junfeng, is translated below.




Japanese souls have become Taiwanese gods, even keeping a small moustache. Tuku Village of Rende Township in Tainan County is home to Shuaijun Temple, which honors the Japanese officers who died in a plane crash. The golden body of the temple joss wears an elaborate Chinese Wang Ye headdress. The joss is fashioned in the traditional style of Taiwanese gods, making it a peculiar site.

A 76-year old temple-goer from Rende township said that the temple honors General Yamamoto and eleven other officers. In 1945, after Japan declared defeat in the war, twelve officers departed from Taipei going South to meet up with their units, after which they would withdraw.

The airplane approached Rende Township and requested clearance for landing, but the airbase in Tainan hesistated in replying. Because they received no directions or signal, they continued circling. Unexpectedly, the plane then crashed in an orchard near Tuku village.

The temple-goer recalls, the plane chose a sparsely populated area of bamboo grove and orchard to make the forced landing to avoid harming the innocent, eliciting the gratitude of residents.

About 25 years ago, equipment in local factories was often malfunctioning. After maintenance, the source of the problem could not be identified. Through a medium, Qingshui Zushi indicated the problems were due to the haunting of the deceased Japanese soldiers. Residents collected funds and erected the Shuaijun Temple for their worship.

In addition to the principle deity, General Yamamoto, the temple honors General Tatsuta and other officers, with twelve tablets in all. Believers hired a master sculptor to carve the joss. After installation, the temple formally began to receive the worship of believers.

Although the victims of the crash are honored as generals, according to folk custom, they are called "marshals" and they wear a Wang Ye headdress just like a Taiwanese deity. Strikingly, the face does not wear a long beard but instead maintains the small moustache as worn by the Japanese.

In addition to the Junshuai Temple, the Japanese officers are also honored in the hall of Beiji Temple in Rende Township, along with the chief deity of the temple, Xuan Tian, who together share in the offerings of believers. It is a remarkable scene, rare in Taiwan.

Article source 1
Article source 2

State of joss carving in Taiwan

This article comes from the Liberty Times, from the same page as this article. I couldn't find the exact article online, but here is an almost identical news video. As you can see from the pictures (not taken from the article), the carved wooden idols look great with their natural wood grain. It's a shame that most of them end up being covered in paint. I wonder how the artist feels about that.



Due to the government's prohibition on logging and the cheap imports sold in great numbers from China, wood carving is seen as a dying industry. But sculptor Wu Manhe of Hemei township maintains his post, along with his son, and has earned praised for his conscientious work. Wu, who has been carving for over 40 years, says that Chinese-made joss are more crude, and many of them use acrylic glass, which doesn't allow for dignity and detail. They feel lacking in respect, so many Taiwanese believers still prefer locally carved josses.

Wu states that to become a master carver requires a basis in art. You need a foundation in calligraphy and sculpting. These items usually required five or six years of training. In addition, you need to cultivate a calmness, not being angered easily, because if you get angry while working, it changes the spirit of a piece.

Master Wu points out that in joss carving, the traditional ways must be followed in the figure's proportions and the luster of the wood. One should strive not to be creative to avoid losing the dignity of the joss. Although joss carving is on the decline in Taiwan, it won't die out because repect for the gods is fundamental to man's spirit.

Doctor fears baby ghosts

This article comes from the Apple Daily on Friday. It is an interview with "Doctor Peace." He explains why he doesn't perform abortions, recounts an encounter with a ghost, and tells the surprising reason for mishaps at the hospital. I find the stories about encounters with ghosts which are so common in Asian culture to be boring, but what I found interesting about this is that it shows how a doctor's religious beliefs actually have an influence on his practice and how they allow him to deal with the inevitable losses that happen on the job. Unfortunately, he is not very articulate on these points. The best I can make of it is that he believes performing abortions will put him in close contact with the spirit world, which he fears, and he believes he doesn't have authority to decide life or death.



Q: Why don't you perform abortions?
A: I chose obstetrics and gynecology because I thought only in this department would people come in happy and leave happy. Over the years, I've come across some children who weren't able to leave the hospital, which shattered my fantasy. I believe in karma. The spirit world has its own reasons, so I don't do abortions.

Q: When there is someone who must have an abortion, how do you handle it?
A: I often come across junior high girls who are pregnant. That's a big crossroads in their life. If you don't help her, she'll be done for. So I'll introduce her to a qualified physician that I trust. Otherwise she'll have no one to turn to. If she turns to an unlicensed doctor or tries to buy medicine it would be even more dangerous. I've seen a lot of cases where the abortion has caused harm. There were some where the intestines were pulled out or where the uterus was pierced. When they come in it is because of [the resulting] peritonitis and it causes infertility.

I oppose abortion, but as a counseling physician, I shouldn't be biased or try to guide the patient on the question of whether or not to keep the child. You can only provide neutral opinions, and let her decide, for better or worse.

I had a patient who was pregnant in her second year of high school. At that time I kept telling her she should keep it, but her mother kept telling her to get rid of it! She kept the baby, but in the 28th week she was sent to the hospital because of bleeding. I found that her kid's heartbeat was gone. We hurriedly went into surgery to get it out. The pediatrician got the child's heart beating again and he went on living, but the child had cerebral palsy and died after a year. This made me reflect: was what I did right? If I had accepted the advice of the girl's family at that time, she wouldn't have gone through so much tragedy and she would have had a good future. Fortunately, she's doing fairly well now. She's good looking and she's become a celebrity.

The other reason I don't do abortions is because my body is sensitive, so I can feel some things. In college I saw demons, and later I saw ghosts. When I had been a resident doctor for three years, one night after midnight after I had finished making rounds and was going back to go to sleep, I passed the cancer ward. I suddenly saw an old woman come out of a room. I joked to myself, "This grandma must be bored so she's getting up in the middle of the night to go shopping." I asked her, "What's going on? Why did you come out?" She said her grandson was looking for her and she was going home. I said, "It's so late. Go back tomorrow." I led her to the doorway and she opened the door and entered.

The next day I was writing patients' records and I happened to ask a nurse, "Last night that old woman said she was going home. Can she leave?"
She asked me, "Which old woman?"
"The old woman from room X."
"She died two or three days ago!"
I felt chilled. The deceased patient had been reluctant to leave.

After that incident, I ran into that kind of thing less often, but I have a friend who has a yingyang eye (which allows him to see ghosts) who told me that he saw lots of children in the birthing ward of the hospital as soon as the door opened. Those are the kids who have been aborted or who couldn't leave. I can't see them, but I can feel it.

Q: Do they affect the patients?
A: I've treated three mothers for symptoms of premature labor. All three [should have been] able to go home the next day. But strangely, the next day none of them were able to leave the hospital. A mother was affected by placenta previa (placenta is attached in the wrong place). I treated her so that she stopped bleeding and told her she could go home, but not long later she began bleeding profusely and we had to administer a Ceasarean section.

The other pregnant mother had a fetus whose heart was beating at over 200 bpm. I controlled it using medicine, and congratulated the mother that she could go home the next day, but that evening the child's heart started up again. I went into surgery as quickly as possible but the child couldn't make it.

There was also a mother who I treated so that her uterus was no longer contracted, after which she could betransfered to the common ward, but the same thing happened as before and the next day her uterus suddenly contracted and lost blood. We performed an emergency Ceasarean section and fortunately the twins were ok. Afterwards I thought, it's those [ghost] children horsing around! Really!

I know the pain of those mothers whose children are still in the hospital and can't be free, but life is beyond understanding. So every once in a while I go worship the god of health (Baosheng Dadi). I don't do it for myself, but for the health of the mothers. This is the root of being a physician; if the patient is healthy then I'm healthy.

Evironmentally friendly temple

I've had this article sitting around for about a month now, since before I went on vacation. It's translated from the Liberty Times.
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Because the smoke and ashes caused by burning paper money at the temple drew complaints from neighboring businesses, Kaihua temple in Zhanghua stopped burning paper money and instead began implementing "aroma worship" thirty years ago. Many worshipers do not even burn incense, but instead offer flowers in worship. This has reduced smoke and created an elegant and refreshing environment.

Kaihua temple manager Wang Shixiang said that the temple, which is located at the intersection of Zhonghua Road and Minzu Road, used to have a furnace for burning joss money in the courtyard. The temple was busy all day long. Nearby were many businesses and vehicles coming and going, so the smoke and ashes caused by worshipers burning joss money drew protests from the public. Wang said the the temple implemented a policy of not allowing the burning of joss money. Temple goers eventually became accustomed to this, and worshiped by using only incense. Some even use flowers, fruit, or Hawaiian items (?:壇島) instead of incense, which reduces the amount of smoke pollution even more. After the 9/21 earthquake, the temple went one step further by removing the furnace which had already been closed for many years, underscoring the no-burning policy even more. Because of this, the temple remains clean and elegant, and the ornate wood carvings are well preserved.

Kaihua temple was built in the second year of the Yongzheng reign of the Qing dynasty. It has been renovated multiple times, the last time being six years ago. The temple has been praised as "Zhanghua's number one temple." The main hall honors the bodhisattva Guanyin, the two side halls honor the 18 lohans, and the back hall honers the Three Governors (the governors of heaven, earth, and water), Zhusheng Niangniang (a fertility goddess), as well as Dou Gong and Dou Po (gods that cure smallpox, by tradition. Nowadays, they are likely used as cosmetic gods).

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A sidebar to the article has the opinion of three people about Kaihua temple's practice of not burning joss money. All three commenters think it is a great idea and hope that Kaihua temple could spread the practice to other temples.