Abstract
Now largely forgotten, the Horse King (Mawang), also known as the Horse God (Mashen), was among the most popular deities of late imperial northern China. His flourishing cult mirrored the ubiquity of his protégés—horses, donkeys, and mules—in Chinese quotidian lives. Equines were relied upon for agriculture, transportation, and industrial production, and hence the widespread veneration or their tutelary deity. With this in mind, the chapter examines the ecological background of the Horse King’s late imperial cult. More specifically, it surveys the various social and professional groups that worshiped the draft-animals’ guardian deity: Peasants, merchants, cavalrymen, muleteers, donkey drivers, coachmen, and veterinarians. Particular attention is given to the lavish state patronage of the cult. Horses were relied upon in diverse government organs, ranging from the military and the courier system to the imperial palace. Therefore, the Horse King was worshipped in official shrines that were located in both government offices and military bases. Moreover, the ecological analysis of the cult is joined by considerations of the attitude it might evince toward animals: Did equine owners venerate the god because of their dependence on his beneficiaries, or might they have been genuinely fond of their hard-working beasts? Was the cult motivated solely by economic considerations, or did genuine feelings for animals figure in it? Particularly intriguing in this regard are temples in which the Horse King was worshiped alongside other gods such as the Medicine King (Yaowang). The joint cult of animal and human tutelary deities might thus indicate that they share a similar theological standing, i.e., that draft-animals and their human masters are equally vulnerable and in similar need of divine protection.
My research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant no. 325/15).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Information gathered during fieldwork in Xingping si Village and Huanghua yu cun village, Long County, Western Shaanxi (February 2016). The local shrines are referred to as “Mountain-God Temples” (Shanshen miao) after one of the six gods worshiped therein.
- 2.
Gamble (1963, 119). Gamble’s volume covers Hebei, Shansi, Henan, and Shandong Provinces.
- 3.
On the silkworm goddesses (for there were quite a few) see Broadwin (1999, 17–112) and Kuhn (1984). On the transformation of the Indian Aśvaghoṣa into a Chinese silkworm god see Young (2015, 186–216). On the Ox King’s cult see Yan (2002). On the Ox King Festival (Niuwang jie), in which his bovine protégés were allowed to rest and were rewarded with glutinous rice, see Zuo (2013) and Guo and He (2016). On the Insect King, see Hsu (1969) see also Zong and Liu (1987, 466–469).
- 4.
- 5.
See Shahar (2017). In addition to his iconic traits, the Horse King inherited from his Tantric ancestor the esoteric Buddhist title of vidyārāja (Chinese: mingwang), meaning “King Illuminated [by Magical Knowledge]” or “King of Spells.”
- 6.
- 7.
My very rough estimate of the relative prevalence of Horse King temples in diverse provinces is based upon the Erudition (Airusheng), first collection (chuji), database of local histories (gazetteers). I have counted the number of references to Horse king temples (miao) and shrines (ci), as well as—using the deity’s other name—Horse God (Mashen) temples and shrines. I have arrived at a total (for all periods, per province) of: Shanxi (202 references); Shaanxi (218); Hebei (353); Shandong (366); Zhejiang (29); Fujian (54); Guangdong (84); Guangxi (26); Taiwan (5). For a variety of reasons, these should not be taken as indications of the actual number of temples in each province (for example because many temples did not make it into the gazetteers, whereas numerous gazetteers count the same temples over and over again). Nonetheless, the figures might provide a tentative indication of the relative prevalence of Horse King temples in different provinces.
- 8.
Sydney Gamble alludes to the Horse King as a popular village god in his study (conducted between 1926 and 1933) of Ding County, Hebei province (some 100 miles southwest of Beijing), and in his broader survey (conducted in the early 1930s) of Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong villages; see respectively Gamble (1954, 400, 402) and Gamble (1963, 119).
- 9.
The Horse King figures in two interviews conducted by the Japanese Mantetsu researchers at the village of Wudian, Liangxiang County, Hebei Province (some twenty miles southwest of Beijing). In the first (dated May 1942), he was identified as the protector of equines (horses, donkeys, and mules). In the second (dated October 1942), he was described as the tutelary deity of all domesticated animals (including oxen, pigs, sheep); see Niida (1952–1958, 5: 407, 431, 443).
- 10.
Chao (2006, 49).
- 11.
- 12.
On July 26, 2014, Prof. Lü Jianfu (Shaanxi Normal University) and I examined the Kangxi and Qianlong steles of the now defunct Horse King Temple in the village of Shangwangcun, Pucheng County, Central Shaanxi. Discussed below the steles of the now defunct Horse King Temple at Dengcun Village, Xiangfen County, Southern Shanxi are likewise extant.
- 13.
On July 25, 2014, I visited the still active Horse King Temple in the village to which it gave its name: Mawang cun, Chang’an District 長安, Xi’an City, Shaanxi. Digital searches yield numerous other villages so named. My friend Vincent Durand-Dastès sent me photos of a recently (2015) renovated Mawang Temple (Horse King Temple) in a village called Macun in Jishan County, southwestern Shanxi (personal communication, July 13, 2018).
- 14.
On July 8, 2013, and again on July 31, 2014, I surveyed the parishes of Beizhang zhen and Zezhang zhen, Xinjiang County, Southern Shanxi. One village (Jianxi) features an active Horse King Temple. The temple of another (Beidong) was destroyed by the invading Japanese in the late 1930s. The elderly of three other villages (Beizhang, Xizhuang, and Beiduwu) recalled the festivities that accompanied the equine god’s birthday.
- 15.
Fieldwork conducted on September 21, 2016 verified the Dengcun provenance of the Horse King notebooks. Among other discoveries, it yielded a stele inscription dated 1861, which information tallies perfectly with the manuscripts; see Shahar (2019).
- 16.
Bouchet (1993, 45, 129).
- 17.
As noted above, the term King of Spells (mingwang; Sanskrit: vidyārāja) betrays the Horse King’s Buddhist Tantric origins.
- 18.
Zhang (1936, 6.6a–b). Zhang cites as his source the Jiujing fengsu zhigao (Draft account of the former capital’s customs), which was apparently authored in 1928 by the pseudonym-bearing Jiuwu. I have been unable to locate the latter.
- 19.
Lei Zhen (1914, 1.5a).
- 20.
- 21.
Niida, “Guilds of Peking” (1950, 191).
- 22.
Mashi dajie is nowadays called Dongsixi dajie. Unfortunately, the four elegant archways are no longer extant.
- 23.
An accurate transcription is available in Niida, Pekin kōshō girudo (1975, 697–698); compare the less accurate one in Zhao, Dongyue Miao (2004, 138–139); see also Zhao Shiyu, “‘Yuanqin buru jinling” (2005, 43). Anne Swan Goodrich (1895–2005) visited the Horse King Hall in the 1930s; see Goodrich (1964, 124–125, 183–184).
- 24.
The seventh earthly branch wu corresponds to the Horse. Hence wu sometimes mean Horse.
- 25.
- 26.
- 27.
- 28.
Lu (1991, 8.84).
- 29.
Zhang (1936, 6.6a).
- 30.
- 31.
Duke Fuheng’s 1755 renovation of the temple is recorded in his “Yijian Ma Shen Miao Beiji” (Stele Commemorating the Relocation and Renovation of the Horse God Temple), reproduced in Beijing tushuguan jinshi zubian (1989, 71:66).
- 32.
- 33.
- 34.
The English rendering Palace Stud was chosen by Hucker (1985, 413). Note that the character si (literally “Four Horses [Team]”) was likely chosen in reference to the asterism of the “Heavenly Four Horses“ (Tiansi), with which the Zhou period Horse Ancestor (Mazu), followed by the Horse King (Mawang), were identified.
- 35.
Quoted in Wang Mingzhen (2004, 45).
- 36.
- 37.
Xu Ke (1986, 8:3560). The Kuyala Manchus were named after the locality in today’s Heilongjiang Province from which they hailed.
- 38.
I conducted a digital search of the Erudition (Airusheng) gazetteer database. On Lord Guan’s military cult see Wang Jianchuan (2002, 264–268). The colored banners (sometime bearing Chinese characters or pictures of animals) were commonly referred to as qidao (“banners”), junya (“military tooth banners”); or liudao (“six military banners”); see Katz (2009).
- 39.
Jiajing Liaodong zhi (1537, 2.38b).
- 40.
- 41.
Information gathered during my visit to the temple on August 24, 2014. The Mongol Blue Bannerman Shu Ming-A (who restored the temple) should be distinguished from his higher-ranking namesake of the Manchu Yellow banner.
- 42.
In January 2016, Hannibal Taubes sent me photos of the Horse King from a military temple (wumiao) in Guide County, Eastern Qinghai Province. The temple was managed by a Qing-Dynasty “Green Standards” army unit (rather than the elite banner units).
- 43.
As Anne Swan Goodrich was told in the 1930s; see Goodrich (1964, 124).
- 44.
As noted above, the Horse Ancestor (Mazu) of the first centuries BCE was identified as a star constellation named either Room or Four Heavenly Horses. The mythic horse Hualiu is mentioned in the Zhuang zi (outer chapter 17) as traveling a thousand miles a day. It is one of the eight steeds that, in the Mu tianzi zhuan (chapter 4) bear King Mu’s chariot to the paradise of the goddess Xiwangmu. The couplet is transcribed in Hu Manchuan (n.d., 78). I visited the Yuci Yamen in July 2013.
- 45.
Shunzhi Yuzhou zhi1659 edition, 1.33b. A digital search of the Erudition gazetteer database reveals numerous other instances of Horse King Shrines within courier stations.
- 46.
Yiyang xian zhi (1881, 4.36a).
- 47.
Interview conducted on July 31, 2014, at Jianxi village, Xinjiang County, Southern Shanxi.
- 48.
The Medicine King (Yaowang) is variously identified with historical physicians such as the fourth-century BCE Bian Que, the Tang-period Sun Simiao, and the Tang-period Wei Cizang. He is also related to the Healing Buddha Bhaiṣajyaguru (Yaoshi Fo). At the Weicun Ox King Temple discussed below he is recognized as Sun Simiao; see Yan (2002, 26).
- 49.
The Horse King Temple (Mawang miao) at Xizhuang Village, Hongdong County (some twenty miles northwest of Linfen city (Shanxi Province)) is an example. (Information gathered during my visit to the temple on September 22, 2016.)
- 50.
The temple is located in Weicun Village, approximately fifteen miles northwest of Linfen City. Dating from 1283 its theater stage was renovated in 1321 following an earthquake; see Yan (2002).
- 51.
- 52.
I copied the couplet during fieldwork on September 22, 2016.
- 53.
- 54.
- 55.
Schmitt (1979).
References
Arbel, Benjamin. 2011. “The Renaissance Transformation of Animal Meaning: From Petrarch to Montaigne.” In Making Animal Meaning, edited by Linda Kalof and Georgina M. Montgomery, 59–80. East Lansing: Michigan State University.
Arlington, L. C., and William Lewisohn. 1967 [1935]. In Search of Old Peking. New York: Paragon Books.
Baoqing fu zhi 寶慶府志 [Gazetteer of Baoqing Prefecture]. 1934 [1847]. Edited by Deng Xianhe 鄧顯鶴, Revised by Huang Zhaizhong 黃宅中.
Beijing tushuguan jinshi zubian 北京圖書館金石組編, ed. 1989. Beijing Tushuguan cang Zhong’guo lidai taben huibian 北京圖書館藏中國歷代石刻拓本彙編 [The Collected Rubbings of Chinese Steles Throughout the Ages Preserved at the Beijing Library]. 101 vols. Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji.
Bodde, Derk, trans. 1936. Annual Customs and Festivals in Peking. By Tun Li-Ch’en [Fucha Dunchong]. Peiping: Henri Vetch.
Bouchet, Ghislaine. 1993. Le cheval a Paris de 1850 à 1914. Mémoires et documents de l’école des chartes 37. Genève-Paris: Librairie Droz.
Broadwin, Julie. 1999. “Intertwining Threads: Silkworm Goddesses, Sericulture Workers and Reformers in Jiangnan, 1880s–1930s.” PhD diss., University of California, San Diego.
Bujard, Marianne, and Dong Xiaoping 董曉萍. 2011. Temples et stèles de Pékin (Beijing neicheng simiao beike zhi 北京內城寺廟碑刻志). 3 vols. Beijing: Guojia tushuguan.
Chao, Adam Yuet. 2006. Miraculous Response: Doing Popular Religion in Contemporary China. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Deng Qingping 鄧慶平. 2006. “Ming Qing Beijing de Mashen chongbai ji qi gongneng, yiyi de zhuanbian” 明清北京的馬神崇拜及其功能意義的轉變. Beijing shehui kexue 北京社會科學 [The Ming and Qing Periods Beijing Cult of the Horse God, Its Meaning and Transformation] 2: 71–77.
Fucha Dunchong 富察敦崇 (1855–1911). 1981. Yanjing suishi ji 燕京歲時記 [Calendar of Beijing Seasonal Activities]. Beijing: Beijing guji.
Gamble, Sidney D. 1954. Ting Hsien: A North China Rural Community. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations.
Gamble, Sidney D. 1963. North China Villages: Social, Political, and Economic Activities Before 1933. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goodrich, Anne Swan. 1964. The Peking Temple of the Eastern Peak. Nagoya: Monumenta Serica.
Grootaers, Willem A., Li Shi-Yü 李世瑜, and Chang Chi-Wen 張冀文. 1948. “Temples and History of Wanch’üan (Chahar): The Geographical Method Applied to Folklore.” Monumenta Serica 13: 209–316.
Grootaers, Willem A., Li Shih-Yü 李世瑜, and Wang Fu-Shih 王輔世. 1951. “Rural Temples Around Hsüan-Hua (South Chahar), Their Iconography and Their History.” Folklore Studies, 10 (1): 1–116.
Guo Binglu 郭冰盧, and He Zhili 賀智利. 2016. “Mafang Niuwanghui sishen sheshi huodong de tianye kaocha” 馬坊牛王會祀神社事活動的田野考察 [Fieldwork Investigation of the Ritual Activities of the Mafang Ox King Association]. Wenhua yichan 文化遺產 1: 88–95.
Hsu, Shin-Yi. 1969. “The Cultural Ecology of the Locust Cult in Traditional China.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 59 (4): 731–752.
Hu Manchuan 胡满川. n.d. Jin fan shoufu yamen 晋藩首辅衙门 [The Yamen of the Shanxi Senior Grand Secretaries]. Yuci: Shanxi Yuci laocheng wenhua lüyou kaifa youxian gongsi.
Hucker, Charles. 1985. A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Jiajing Liaodong zhi 嘉靖遼東志 (Jianjing-Period Gazetteer of Liaodong). 1537. Edited by Bi Gong 畢恭 et al., Revised by Ren Luo 任洛 et al.
Katz, Paul. 2009. “Banner Worship and Human Sacrifice in Chinese Military History.” In The Scholar’s Mind: Essays in Honor of F. W. Mote, edited by Perry Link, 207–227. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Kleimola, Ann M. 2010. “Visions of Horses: The Evolution of the Russian Cult of Florus and Laurus.” In The Place of Russia in Europe and Asia, edited by Gyula Szvák, 79–92. Boulder: Social Science Monographs.
Kuhn, Dieter. 1984. “Tracing a Chinese Legend: In Search of the Identity of the ‘First Sericulturalist.’” T’oung Pao, Second Series, 70 (4–5): 213–245.
Lei Zhen 雷震 (1897–1979). 1914. Xin Yan yu 新燕語 [New Beijing Talks]. In vol. 15 of Man Qing baishi 滿清稗史 [Unofficial Anecdotes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty]. Shanghai: Xin Zhongguo shuju.
Linzey, Andrew, and Dan Cohn-Sherbok. 1997. After Noah: Animals and the Liberation of Theology. London: Mowbray.
Li Qiao 李喬. 1990. Zhongguo hangye shen chongbai 中國行業神崇拜 [The Cult of the Chinese Gods of Specific Professions]. Beijing: Zhongguo Huaqiao.
Lowe, H. Y. 1983 [1940]. The Adventures of Wu: The Life Cycle of a Peking Man. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lu Rong 陸容 (1436–1494). 1991. Shu yuan zaji 菽園雜記 [Miscellaneous Notes from the Bean Garden]. Congshu jicheng chubian Edition. Beijing: Zhonghua.
Naquin, Susan. 2000. Peking: Temples and City Life 1400–1900. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Niida Noboru. 1950. “Industrial and Commercial Guilds of Peking and Religion and Fellow-Countrymanship as Elements of Their Coherence,” Folklore Studies 9: 179–206.
Niida Noboru 仁井田 陞. 1951. Chugoku no Shakai to Girudo 中国の社会とギルド [The Guilds in Chinese Society]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Niida Noboru 仁井田 陞. ed. 1952–1958. Chūgoku nōson kankō chōsa 中國農村慣行調查 [Survey of Chinese Agricultural Practice]. 6 vols. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.
Niida Noboru 仁井田 陞. 1975. Niida Noboru Hakushi shū Pekin kōshō girudo shiryōshū 仁井田陞博士輯北京工商ギルド資料集 [The Collected Materials of Dr. Niida Noboru on the Beijing Industrial and Commercial Guilds]. Edited Saeki Yūichi 佐伯有一and Tanaka Issei 田仲一成. Tokyo: Tōkyō Daigaku Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo.
Qing Neiwufu Cang Jingcheng Quantu 清內務府藏京城全圖 [The Complete Map of the Capital, Preserved at the Qing-Period Imperial Household Department]. 1940 [1750]. Beijing: Gugong bowuyuan.
Shahar, Meir. 2017. “The Tantric Origins of the Horse King: Hayagrīva and the Chinese Horse Cult.” In Chinese and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism, edited by Yael Bentor and Meir Shahar, 147–189. Leiden: Brill.
Shahar, Meir. 2019. “Newly-Discovered Manuscripts of a Northern-Chinese Horse King Temple Association.” T’oung Pao 105: 183–228.
Schmitt, Jean-Claude. 1979. Le Saint lévrier: Guinefort, guérisseur d’enfants depuis le XIII siècle. Paris: Flammarion.
Shunzhi Yuzhou zhi 順治蔚州志 [Shunzhi-Period Gazetteer of Yuzhou Prefecture]. 1659. Edited by Li Ying 李英.
Sterckx, Roel. 1996. “An Ancient Chinese Horse Ritual.” Early China 21: 47–79.
Tolstoy, Leo. 1996. War and Peace. Translated by Aylmer and Louise Maude, edited by George Gibian. New York: Norton.
Wang Jianchuan 王見川. 2002. “Junshen Xietian Dadi, Guansheng Dijun: Ming zhongqi yilai de Guangong Xinyang” 軍神, 協天大帝, 關聖帝君: 明中期以來的關公信仰 [“Military God, Heaven-Assisting Great Emperor, Imperial Lord Guansheng: The Transformation of Guangong’s Cult During the Mid-Ming Period]. Taiwan zongjiao yanjiu tongxun 臺灣宗教研究通訊 4: 263–279.
Wang Mingzhen 王銘珍. 2004. “Zijinchang de Chenghuang miao he Mashen miao” 紫禁城的城隍廟和馬神廟 [The Forbidden City’s City God and Horse King Temples]. Beijing dangan 北京檔案 12: 45.
Xu Ke 徐珂 (1869–1928). 1986. Qing bai lei chao 清稗類鈔 [Classified Anthology of Qing Anecdotes]. 13 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua.
Yan Baoquan 延保全. 2002. “Weicun difang shehui yu Niuwang miao saishe yanju” 魏村地方社會與牛王廟賽社演劇 [The Local Society of Weicun Village, and the Festival Performance of Its Ox King Temple Ritual Association]. Minsu quyi 民俗曲藝 138: 7–65.
Yan Baoquan 延保全. 2003. “Guangchan Hou yu Yuandai Shanxi zhi Niuwang chongbai” 廣禪侯與元代山西之牛王崇拜 [Guangchan Hou and the Yuan-Period Shanxi Cult of the Ox King]. Shanxi Shida xuebao 山西師大學報 30 (4): 43–47.
Yiyang xian zhi 宜陽县志 [Gazetteer of Yiyang County]. 1881. Edited by Liu Zhanqing 劉占卿and Xie Yingqi 謝應起.
Young, Stuart H. 2015. Conceiving the Indian Buddhist Patriarchs in China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Yu Minzhong 于敏中 et al. 2000 [1787]. Rixia Jiuwen kao 日下舊聞考 [Researching The Old Traditions and Documents of the Capital]. Beijing: Beijing guji.
Zhang Jiangcai 張江裁 (1909–1968). 1936. Beiping suishi zhi 北平歲時志 [Record of Beijing Yearly Festivities]. Beiping: Guoli Beiping yanjiuyuan shixue yanjiuhui.
Zhao Shiyu 趙世瑜. 2004. Beijing Dongyue Miao yu Beijing Taishan Xinyang Beike lu 北京東嶽廟與北京泰山信仰碑刻錄 [Transcribed Stele Inscriptions from the Beijing Temple of the Eastern Peak and Other Beijing Temples Related to the Cult of Mt. Tai]. Beijing: Zhongguo shudian.
Zhao Shiyu 趙世瑜. 2005. “‘Yuanqin buru jinling.’ Cong jisi zhongxin kan chengshi zhong de hangye yu jiequ: Yi Ming Qing jingshi Dongyue miao xilang zhushen wei chufadian” ‘遠親不如近鄰’ 从祭祀中心看城市中的行业与街区: 以明清京師東嶽廟西廊諸神為出發點 [“Distant Relatives Do Not Equal Nearby Neighbors:” An Examination of Urban Occupations and Districts from the Perspective of Cultic Centers, Using the Various Gods at the Western Section of the Ming Qing Period Beijing Temple of the Eastern Peak as a Starting Point]. Dongyue luncong 東嶽論叢 26 (3): 40–45.
Zhou Li 周禮 [Rites of Zhou]. 1967. Sibu congkan Edition. Taibei: Shangwu.
Zong Li 宗力 and Liu Qun 劉群. 1987. Zhongguo minjian zhushen 中國民間諸神 [The God of Chinese Folk Religion]. Shijiazhuang: Hebei renmin.
Zuo Ying 左瑩. 2013. “Shi lun Niuwangjie suo fanying de minjian xinyang de tedian” 試論牛王節所反映的民間信仰的特點 [The Characteristics of Popular Religion, as Reflected in the Ox King Festival]. Gujin Nongye 古今農業 1: 61–66.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shahar, M. (2019). The Chinese Cult of the Horse King, Divine Protector of Equines. In: Kowner, R., Bar-Oz, G., Biran, M., Shahar, M., Shelach-Lavi, G. (eds) Animals and Human Society in Asia. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24363-0_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24363-0_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24362-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24363-0
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)