Chinese folk religion

====Deities and immortals====
{{Further|Yellow God incarnation theology}}
[[File:Doumu altar and statue at the Doumugong of Butterworth, Penang.jpg|thumb|Main altar and statue of [[Doumu]] inside the Temple of Doumu in [[Butterworth, Penang]], [[Malaysia]].]]
[[File:炎黄二帝巨型塑像正面视角.JPG|thumb|Statue and ceremonial complex of the Yellow and Red Gods, from whom the [[Han Chinese]] are [[Yan Huang Zisun|said to be the descendants]], in [[Zhengzhou]], [[Henan]].]]
Gods and immortals (collectively {{lang-zh|神仙}} ''shénxiān'') in the Chinese cultural tradition reflect a hierarchical, [[multiperspectivity|multiperspective]] experience of divinity.<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 63"/> In Chinese language there is a terminological distinction between {{lang-zh|神}} ''shén'', {{lang-zh|帝}} ''dì'' and {{lang-zh|仙}} ''xiān''. Although the usage of the former two is sometimes blurred, it corresponds to the distinction in Western cultures between "god" and "deity", Latin ''[[genius (mythology)|genius]]'' (meaning a generative principle, "spirit") and ''[[deus]]'' or ''divus''; ''dì'', sometimes translated as "[[:wiktionary:thearch|thearch]]", implies a manifested or incarnate "godly" power.{{refn|group=note|The term "thearch" is from Greek ''theos'' ("deity"), with ''[[arche]]'' ("principle", "origin"), thus meaning "divine principle", "divine origin". In sinology it has been used to designate the incarnated gods who, according to Chinese tradition, sustain the world order and originated China. It is one of the alternating translations of {{lang-zh|帝}} ''dì'', together with "emperor" and "god".{{sfnb|Pregadio|2013|p=504, vol. 2 A-L|ps=: Each sector of heaven (the four points of the compass and the center) was personified by a ''di'' {{lang-zh|帝}} (a term which indicates not only an emperor but also an ancestral "thearch" and "god").}}}}{{sfnb|Medhurst|1847|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kw1gAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA260 260]}} It is etymologically and figuratively analogous to the concept of ''di'' as the base of a fruit, which falls and produces other fruits. This analogy is attested in the ''[[Shuowen jiezi]]'' explaining "deity" as "what faces the base of a melon fruit".{{sfnb|Zhao|2012|p=51}}

Many classical books have lists and hierarchies of gods and immortals, among which the "Completed Record of Deities and Immortals" ({{lang-zh|神仙通鑒}} ''Shénxiān tōngjiàn'') of the [[Ming dynasty]],{{sfnp|Yao|2010|p=159}} and the "[[Biographies of Deities and Immortals]]" ({{lang-zh|神仙傳}} ''Shénxiān zhuán'') by [[Ge Hong]] (284–343).{{sfnp|Yao|2010|p=161}} There's also the older ''[[Liexian zhuan]]'' ({{lang-zh|列仙傳}} "Collected Biographies of Immortals").

There are the great cosmic gods representing the first principle in its unmanifested state or its creative order—[[Jade Emperor|Yudi]] ({{lang-zh|玉帝}} "Jade Deity"){{refn|group=note|name=king-emperor-shaman-axis}} and [[Doumu]] ({{lang-zh|斗母}} "Mother of the Meaning" or "Great Chariot"), [[Pangu]] ({{lang-zh|盤古}}, the [[macranthropy|macranthropic]] metaphor of the cosmos), [[Xiwangmu]] ({{lang-zh|西王母}} "Queen Mother of the West") and [[Dongwanggong]] ({{lang-zh|東王公}} "King Duke of the East") who personificate respectively the yin and the yang,{{sfnb|Fowler|2005|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9wi-ZDdmaqEC&q=Xiwangmu 206–207]}} as well as the dimensional Three Patrons and the [[Wufang Shangdi|Five Deities]]; then there are the sky and weather gods, the scenery gods,  the vegetal and animal gods, and gods of human virtues and crafts.<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 71"/> These are interpreted in different ways in Taoism and [[Chinese salvationist religions|folk sects]], the former conferring them long [[kataphatic]] names.<ref name="Lu, Gong. 2014. p. 71"/> Below the great deities, there is the unquantifiable number of gods of nature, as every phenomena have or are gods.

The Three Patrons ({{lang-zh|三皇}} ''Sānhuáng'')—[[Fuxi]], [[Nüwa]] and [[Shennong]]—are the "vertical" manifestation of the primordial God corresponding to the Three Realms ({{lang-zh|三界}} ''Sānjiè''), representing the yin and yang and the medium between them, that is the human being.<ref>''Journal of Chinese Religions'', 24–25, 1996. p. 6</ref>

The Five Deities ({{lang-zh|五帝}} ''Wǔdì'') or "Five Forms of the Highest Deity" ({{lang-zh|五方上帝}} ''Wǔfāng Shàngdì'')—the Yellow, Green or Blue, [[Heidi (god)|Black]], Red and White Deities{{sfnb|Medhurst|1847|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kw1gAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA260 260]}}—are the five "horizontal" manifestations of the primordial God and according with the Three Realms they have a celestial, a terrestrial and a chthonic form.{{refn|group=note|The natural order emanating from the primordial God (Tian-Shangdi) inscribing and designing worlds as ''tán'' {{lang-zh|壇}}, "altar", the Chinese concept equivalent of the Indian ''[[mandala]]''. The traditional Chinese religious cosmology shows Huangdi, embodiment of Shangdi, as the hub of the universe and the Wudi (four gods of the directions and the seasons) as his emanations. The diagram illustrated above is based on the ''[[Huainanzi]]''.{{sfnb|Sun|Kistemaker|1997|p=121}}}} They correspond to the [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|five phases of creation]], the [[Four Symbols (China)|five constellations rotating around the celestial pole]], the [[Sacred Mountains of China|five sacred mountains]] and the five directions of space (the four [[cardinal direction]]s and the centre), and the five Dragon Gods ({{lang-zh|龍神}} ''Lóngshén'') which represent their mounts, that is to say the chthonic forces they preside over.{{sfnb|Little|Eichman|2000|p=250|ps=. It describes a [[Ming dynasty]] painting representing (among other figures) the Wudi: "In the foreground are the gods of the Five Directions, dressed as emperors of high antiquity, holding tablets of rank in front of them.&nbsp;... These gods are significant because they reflect the cosmic structure of the world, in which ''yin'', ''yang'' and the Five Phases (Elements) are in balance. They predate religious Taoism, and may have originated as chthonic gods of the Neolithic period. Governing all directions (east, south, west, north and center), they correspond not only to the Five Elements, but to the seasons, the Five Sacred Peaks, the Five Planets, and zodiac symbols as well."}}{{sfnb|Sun|Kistemaker|1997|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=87lvBoFi8A0C&q=Huangdi 120–123]}}

The [[Yellow God]] ({{lang-zh|黃神}} ''Huángshén'') or "Yellow God of the [[Big Dipper|Northern Dipper]]" ({{lang-zh|黃神北斗}} ''Huángshén Běidǒu''{{refn|group=note|A {{lang-zh|斗}} ''dǒu'' in Chinese is an entire semantic field meaning the shape of a "dipper", as the [[Big Dipper]] ({{lang-zh|北斗}} ''Běidǒu''), or a "cup", signifying a "whirl", and also has martial connotations meaning "fight", "struggle", "battle".}}) is of peculiar importance, as he is a form of the universal God ([[Chinese theology|Tian or Shangdi]]){{sfnb|Lagerwey|Kalinowski|2008|p=1080}}{{sfnb|Pregadio|2013|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=R3Sp6TfzhpIC&q=Huangdi 504–505], vol. 2 A-L}} symbolising the ''[[axis mundi]]'' ([[Kunlun Mountain (mythology)|Kunlun]]), or the intersection between the Three Patrons and the Five Deities, that is the center of the cosmos.{{sfnb|Fowler|2005|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9wi-ZDdmaqEC&q=Huangdi 200–201]}} He is therefore described in the ''[[Shizi (book)|Shizi]]'' as the "Yellow Emperor with Four Faces" ({{lang-zh|黃帝四面}} ''Huángdì Sìmiàn'').{{sfnb|Sun|Kistemaker|1997|p=120}} His human incarnation, the "Yellow Emperor (or Deity) of the Mysterious Origin" ({{lang-zh|軒轅黃帝}} ''Xuānyuán Huángdì''), is said to be the creator of the ''[[Huaxia]]'' civility, of marriage and morality, language and lineage, and [[Yan Huang Zisun|patriarch of all the Chinese]] together with the Red Deity.{{sfnb|Chamberlain|2009|p=222}} Xuanyuan was the fruit of virginal birth, as his mother Fubao conceived him as she was aroused, while walking in the country, by a lightning from the Big Dipper.<ref>Yves Bonnefoy,  ''Asian Mythologies''. University of Chicago Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0226064565}}. p. 246</ref>