Home›Chinese Deities›Veneration Status›Actively venerated in a living traditionBrowse ByActively venerated in a living traditionThis page groups deities by how actively they are still venerated today, from gods with a living cult to ones whose worship has died out entirely. Wikipedia defines veneration as "the practice of honoring people and articles of religious significance, for example, the veneration of saints and the veneration of relics." Browsing this way lets a visitor tell a deity that still receives offerings apart from one preserved only in historical study.FactsLearn MoreActively venerated in a living traditionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsAttestationEra of AttestationWell-attestedDivine names appear in the Shang oracle-bone inscriptions of about 1250 to 1050 BCE, the earliest Chinese writing. The pantheon is documented continuously thereafter and is in worship today. 3Veneration TodayWell-attestedWorshipped today in temples, at domestic altars and at festivals across the Chinese-speaking world. 2OverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedThe gods of Chinese religion taken across its parts rather than within one of them: the Taoist canonical pantheon, the deities of the imperial state cult, buddhas and bodhisattvas naturalised into popular worship, and the local and household gods of folk religion. The pantheon is ordered like a bureaucracy, with rank, office and promotion, and many of its members are deified humans. 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedDeities 1Learn MoreThe gods of Chinese religion This group gathers the deities of Chinese folk religion, Taoism and the state cult, a pantheon organised much like an imperial bureaucracy, with a supreme heaven, ranked officials and local gods answerable upward. Figures move between Taoist, Buddhist and popular contexts, and many are deified humans elevated for merit. The browser will find the Jade Emperor at the head of the celestial administration, the Three Pure Ones of Taoist cosmology, the Queen Mother of the West, city gods and kitchen gods, and popular protectors such as Mazu and Guan Yu. The tradition is syncretic and living, and the entries note where a figure belongs to Taoist, Buddhist or folk contexts.Actively venerated in a living traditionFilter Results46 entriesPlanetary FaceAllChiron (1)Jupiter (1)Mars (1)Mercury (1)Moon (1)Pluto (1)Saturn (1)Sun (1)Venus (1)Member OfAllThe Eight Immortals (8)Interpretatio OfAllApollo (1)Jupiter (1)Mars (1)Mercury (1)Saturn (1)Sukunabikona (1)Venus (1)HistoricityAllHistorically attested (4)Legendary: known from narrative tradition, not the historical record (15)Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being (27)TheologyAllEmanationist: reality proceeds from an ineffable One (1)Polytheistic: many gods (45)ArchetypeAllThe Caregiver (2)The Hero (1)The Lover (1)The Magician (2)The Orphan (1)The Ruler (2)The Sage (1)Era Attested Start YearAll-500 (1)-400 (1)-350 (4)-139 (2)80 (1)220 (1)502 (1)901 (1)960 (1)1000 (1)Worshipped InAllChinese Folk Religion (26)Taoism (9)Domain / FunctionAllAgriculture and harvest (2)Ancestors (2)Awakening and liberation (9)Childbirth (1)Commerce and wealth (2)Compassion and mercy (1)Cosmic order and truth (2)Creation and cosmogony (3)Death (1)Disease and plague (2)Earth (1)Fate and time (3)Fire (1)Fortune and luck (2)Healing and medicine (3)Hearth and domestic fire (1)Justice, law and oaths (5)Kingship and sovereignty (3)Love and desire (1)Marriage and the household (3)Moon (1)Motherhood (1)Mountains (1)Prophecy and divination (1)Protection and guardianship (8)Rain and weather (1)Rivers, lakes and springs (2)Sea and ocean (1)Seafaring and fishing (1)Stars and planets (3)Storm and thunder (1)Sun (2)The underworld (3)Trickster (1)Tutelary of a place or community (2)War and battle (4)Wisdom and counsel (1)Writing, scribes and learning (2)GenderAllCollective / plural, not a single figure (4)Female (9)Gender-fluid across the tradition (1)Male (32)PantheonAllBuddhist (1)Chinese (38)Taoist (8)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 46Baosheng DadiActively venerated in a living traditionBixia YuanjunActively venerated in a living traditionCaishenActively venerated in a living traditionCao GuojiuActively venerated in a living traditionChang eActively venerated in a living traditionCity GodActively venerated in a living traditionDoumuActively venerated in a living traditionDragon KingActively venerated in a living traditionErlang ShenActively venerated in a living traditionFuxiActively venerated in a living traditionGuan YuActively venerated in a living traditionHan XiangziActively venerated in a living traditionHe XianguActively venerated in a living traditionHou YiActively venerated in a living traditionHuangdiActively venerated in a living traditionJade EmperorActively venerated in a living traditionJigongActively venerated in a living traditionKitchen GodActively venerated in a living traditionLan CaiheActively venerated in a living traditionLei GongActively venerated in a living traditionLi TieguaiActively venerated in a living traditionLü DongbinActively venerated in a living traditionMazuActively venerated in a living traditionMeng PoActively venerated in a living traditionNezhaActively venerated in a living traditionNuwaActively venerated in a living traditionQueen Mother of the WestActively venerated in a living traditionSanguan Dadi (The Three Officials)Actively venerated in a living traditionShennongActively venerated in a living traditionTai SuiActively venerated in a living traditionTaibai JinxingActively venerated in a living traditionThe Eight ImmortalsActively venerated in a living traditionThe Three Pure OnesActively venerated in a living traditionTudigongActively venerated in a living traditionWang Ye (Royal Lords)Actively venerated in a living traditionWenchang Wang (Wenchang Dijun)Actively venerated in a living traditionXiheActively venerated in a living traditionXuantian Shangdi (Zhenwu)Actively venerated in a living traditionYanluoActively venerated in a living traditionYue FeiActively venerated in a living traditionYue LaoActively venerated in a living traditionZhang GuolaoActively venerated in a living traditionZhong KuiActively venerated in a living traditionZhongli QuanActively venerated in a living traditionZhuanxuActively venerated in a living traditionZhurongActively venerated in a living traditionSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Chinese ReligionView the Source3. Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age Chinatier 1David N. Keightley, University of California Press, 1978chs. 1-2View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.