On the afternoon of October 18, 2021, after the Jinfa Palace was awarded the "World Intangible Cultural Heritage" at the wharf of Zhongshan Bridge Burnt Ash Lane in Zhangzhou City, the Jiulong River folk custom "Sending the King Ship" activity was held for the first time. Compared with the "Sending the King Ship" ceremony in previous years, this year's "Sending the King Ship" event added a celebration of successful inclusion in the "World Heritage" list.
Originating from the traditional folklore of southern Fujian, the "sending the king ship" has now gone to the world and become an intangible cultural heritage of mankind.
We will turn the time back to the evening of December 17, 2020 Beijing time, china and Malaysia jointly submitted the "Sending the King Ship - A Ceremony and Related Practice Concerning the Sustainable Connection between Man and the Ocean", which was reviewed and approved by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
CCTV News report
What is "Sending a King Ship"?
Inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the "Ship of Kings" is explained as follows: "Ceremonies and related practices concerning the sustainable connection of human beings to the oceans".
This expression is not difficult to understand, so who is this "person"?
This "man" is actually
Rajah
Wang Ye was known as the "Heavenly Patrol Hunting", that is, to inspect the territory of the "Jade Emperor" to understand the situation of the people, similar to the "Minister of Chincha", "see the official of the first level", there is "see the Prince as if seeing the Son of Heaven".
However, this "Wang Ye" does not refer specifically to a "Wang Ye", and there are about "five Princes" generally recognized by the people of southern Fujian, namely: Li Fu Wangye, Chifu Wangye, Wufu Wangye, Zhu Fu Wangye, Fan Fu Wangye, called "Nan Kun Dai Tianfu Five Provinces Chitose".
Dai Tianfu
Now we have roughly understood that there are five "wang ye", which are "people" with different surnames. So, what is the folk legend about the five princes?
The author borrowed a copy of the "History of the Tianfu of the Southern Kun Dynasty", which records that the "Five Provinces of Chitose" is the clan of the late Sui Dynasty. When the Sui Dynasty Emperor was in power, there was no way out, wars broke out everywhere, and the people did not have a good life. At that time, Li Daliang, Chi Mengbiao, Wu Xiaokuan, Zhu Shuyu, and Fan Chengye were five people who worshiped as brothers with different surnames who were friends of life and death. They believed that the Sui Emperor was not the Ming Emperor they wanted to assist, so they sold their property to help the people. Subsequently, the five brothers defected to Li Yuan, the Tang king, and helped Li Yuan defeat the Sui Gong Emperor Yang You, the grandson of the Sui Emperor, and establish the Tang Dynasty.
"Intangible Cultural Heritage" issued by Fujian Province
In the fifth year of Tang Wude (622), the five brothers surnamed Li, Chi, Wu, Zhu, and Fan were ordered to lead troops to pacify Guangzhou, and when passing through Jiujiang, they also captured the traitor Fu Gongyou. After returning to Beijing, Tang Gaozu praised his merits and rewarded more than a hundred slaves. However, the five brothers had compassion and compassion, released all the slaves and concubines given by the emperor and returned to their hometown, and gave them gold and silver coils. Since then, the great kindness and great kindness of the five brothers have spread throughout the people and are deeply admired by the people.
The stars shifted and the five great heroes did not lose their spirits, everywhere with divine skills to help the weak and eliminate violence, to protect the territory and the people, folk legend is that the Jade Emperor was enthroned as "Five Houses and Thousand Years", and was able to "hunt on behalf of the heavens".
The "Five Houses and Chitose" hunted on behalf of the heavens, swept away the demon atmosphere, defended the disasters, protected the country and the people, and respected the four seas, so as to become a party god.
A small temple with carved beams and paintings
The gods in the temple
"Five Provinces Chitose" is in order, namely the Great King LiFu Chitose, the Second King Chifu Chitose, the Three Kings Wufu Chitose, the Four Kings Zhufu Chitose, and the Five Kings Fanfu Chitose.
In fact, the five "princes" in the "Five Houses and Chitose" really have their own people, and the Book of Tang records:
"Great King" - "Li Fu Chitose", Li Daliang was the founding hero of the Tang Dynasty, promoted from the governor of Jinzhou to the commander of the march, and contributed a lot to the stabilization of the political situation in the early Tang Dynasty. Not only was he loyal to the king and patriotic, and he was sympathetic to the people, but he also had the lofty sentiments of the king's presence and the death of the king's subjects, and after Tang Gaozu's death, he actually followed Tang Gaozu under the Nine Springs.
"Second King", Chi Mengbiao, for his meritorious service in helping Tang Kaiguo, was awarded the title of Lieutenant General of Zhonglang and Lieutenant of Folding Chong. In the 17th year of Zhenguan (643), he accompanied Emperor Taizong of Tang in his conquest of Goguryeo, fought bravely and well, and was appointed as a general of Xuanwei.
The "Three Kings", Wu Xiaokuan, was a meritorious hero of the Tang Dynasty, awarded the title of "Zhonglang General", and was later named the official Shangshu, who often taught the people to reclaim and plant and divert water to irrigate the fields.
The "Four Kings" - Zhu Shuyu, at the beginning of the founding of Tang Gaozu, was ordered to guard the Tumen and repel the Hu people who came to invade. He led the troops to pacify Guangzhou, and was awarded the title of Mianzhou Assassin History and Dali Temple Secretary, and the official worshiped the official Tianguan.
The "Five Kings" - Fan Chengye, during the reign of Tang Gaozu, served as the Chief Secretary of the Punishment Department. After Emperor Taizong of Tang succeeded to the throne, he served as the Assassin of Wuzhou and the Yin of Taiyuan.
In front of the palace temple
We can see that when the "Five Houses and Chitose" were alive, they contributed to the imperial court and had virtue to the people, and after their ascension, they sheltered the people, and they were deeply respected by the people and respected as gods.
For thousands of years, folk legend has spread that the "Five Houses and Thousand Years" followed the orders of the Jade Emperor, rode on the royal ship, patrolled the sky, drove away the plague, and ensured the peace of the people.
God's seat
"Five Houses and a Thousand Years" instead of the Jade Emperor traveling around, rewarding good and punishing evil, and blessing the wind and rain, Guotai and Min'an.
The "sending the king ship" ceremony is generally held once every three to four years, and the grand "sending the king ship" ceremony is determined on which day of the lunar calendar is held by throwing a raft.
Generally speaking, the village is used as a unit, a "king ship" is made of fir wood or paper paste, and the prince is invited to the "king ship", carrying various daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, salt, etc., a huge incense array of stepping on the street, patrolling the border, gongs and drums, sounding firecrackers, lively and extraordinary, unprecedented, and finally sending the "king ship" to the sea to be burned.
The "Sending the King Ship" ceremony is the most grand traditional cultural festival in the coastal areas of Fujian.
"Send the King's Ship" ceremony
"Send the King Ship" patrol incense array
In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, with Zheng's successful recovery of Taiwan, his disciples brought the "Five Provinces and Chitose" to Baodao. According to the investigation, the existing temple in Taiwan dedicated to the "Five Houses and a Thousand Years" is located in the "Nan Kun Dynasty Tianfu" in Tainanbei Men Township, built in the first year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1662), also known as the "Nan Kun Temple", which is the first temple of taiwan's "Five Houses Chitose", so it is also known as the "Kaishan Temple".
Plaque in front of the temple gate
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Han people of southern Fujian did not obey the rule of foreign nationalities, and they "went down to the South Sea" to make a living, not forgetting to bring the "Five Houses and Chitose" to the Malay Islands to "settle down", and the Nan kun Temple was all over the Chinese gathering places in Southeast Asia. Therefore, Only then did China and Malaysia jointly declare the "King Ship" as a World Heritage Site.