Hi All,

This is a Tour organised by Taoism Yahoo Grp of Singapore (leading person: Tao_Victor).

if you are interested in joining in for the Cheng Huang Temple Tour, pls kindly note the time and give me a call or SMS (for those who have my number), if not PM me, so that we can expect you, at any place. (^^)

We have this aggressive programme, but they may be subjected to change depending on interests and discussions at each point.

Draft of Timing slot (each slot pls include a 15min travelling time):

Date: 21 Oct 2006

Time to Gather: 10.00am

Meeting Venue: Garden beside the entrance to Tanjong Pagar MRT

Transportation: Self arranged

10.15am - Du Cheng Huang Temple

11.00am - Yang Tao Yuan and/or Jiu Chai Ba

12.00nn - Lunch (Yet to confirm where)

13.30pm - Shui Jiang Temple @ Kallang

14.30pm - TPY Lian Shan Cheng Huang Temple

15.30pm - End (free to move on)

Highlights of this Tour:

Firstly, you will be able to differentiate the 5 levels/rankings of the Cheng Huang (brief introduction on how Cheng Huang being appointed with the 5 rankings), 2ndly what are the different titles of the 5 rankings Cheng Huang, 3rdly where Cheng Huang origin from and last who are the assistants of Cheng Huang. (including some short intro on Deities, Rituals and Practises)

Hi All,

Thanks for all the supports and didn’t realized that actually some of you joined in.

Here’s some quick summarizing on the Cheng Huang Tour yesterday.

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Brief intro of where Cheng Huang originated from:

Cheng Huang, the 1st original form was a canal/river that helped to protect the people living in a City/Area being attacked by the invaders/enemies.

Who to pay respect to Cheng Huang?

In the ancient China, only Emperors were allowed to pay their respect to Cheng Huang.

In the 8 MUST worshipped Deities/Objects, Cheng Huang (Formally Known as Shui Yong) was positioned at the 7th place.

When was the 1st Cheng Huang temple built?

It was believed to be in AD 238 – 251, during the Three Kingdom Period of China, and the temple was located in An Hui Wu Hu area.

What are the roles for Cheng Huang in different Dynasties?

In Tang, Cheng Huang was worshipped by devotees for the praying of Rain, Relationships, blessing while going for traveling and request for lucks.

In Song, Cheng Huang had became a very important role in normal mortals everyday lifes.

In Ming, Emperors bestowed Cheng Huang with many important titles which increased the importance of Cheng Huang.

In Qing, All new promoted/new appointed officers had to pay respect to the Cheng Huang in the area before they started Court session for case hearing.

So what are the different rankings of Cheng Huang?

There are 5 different rankings for Cheng Huang (being given, bestowed in the Ancient History)

1 For Capital Cheng Huang (京都) – Ming Ling Wang (明靈王) – King Position

2 For Governor State Cheng Huang (府) – Wei Ling Gong (威靈公) – Duke

3 For State Cheng Huang (州) – Sui Jing Hou (綏靖侯) – Marquis

4 For Province Cheng Huang (縣) – Xian You Bo (顯佑伯) – Lord

5 For District/Area/County (鎮/地方) – Cheng Huang Ye (城隍爺) – Officer

In Singapore, the most we can found are only the 2nd, 4th and 5th ranking Cheng Huang.

Even-though the Du Cheng Huang temple in Tanjong Pagar has a title of Du – Capital, but the Cheng Huang in the temple was given the title for the 2nd Ranking.

For Cheng Huang Temples in Pandan Garden and Koo Chai Ba, the Cheng Huang belongs to the 4th ranking and the rest of Cheng Huang that you can found in Spore are mostly the 5th ranking.