Guan Yu

The most successful apotheosis in Chinese history: a defeated general of the third century who is now, thirteen hundred years later, on more altars than almost any other figure — in police stations, in shops, in restaurants, and in the halls of the societies the police are chasing. That last is not a contradiction but the exact content of the cult. What he is the god of is the oath itself: the obligation that holds between people who have sworn to one another, regardless of what they swore to do. In a registry that already carried a great deal of Chinese material he was entirely absent.

Domains

• loyalty
• war
• merchants

Sources

• Reference treatments of Guan Yu, his deification and the Wanli-era honours.