The Magical Legends and Images of Foshan Pak Tai in Narrative Books
SHEN Xiao-hong
Abstract：Pak Tai is the abbreviation of “Beifang Zhenwu Xuantian Shangdi”in Chinese, and it also has many other names such as“Shangdi Gong”,“Di Gong Ye”, etc. People in Foshan named him affectionately as“Pak Tai Gong, Big Parents”. Pak Tai temple in Foshan was built in Yuanfeng Year of the Northern Song Dynasty to enshrine and worship the God. From that time on, especially in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many records of supernatural legends about the God in the local narrative books. With the change of the times and the supernatural legends being deeply rooted among the people, the image of Pak Tai changed too. The change of its image was accompanied with the process of God making movement at the same time with the influence by the gentry and people in Foshan. The whole thing reflects the belief and psychological needs in the people on the one side and the development of local social adjustment in Foshan on the other side.
Keywords：the narrative bookslegends of Pak Taithe image changesGod making movementbelief needssocial adjustment
Publication Date：2014-07-02
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 72-77 )