Guandi - Chinese Guardian Deity

Souvenir Series #13

In an ornate showcase in the Enlightenment Gallery, the former King's Library, at the British Museum there sits a small steatite stone figure which is one of my favourite objects in the Museum. It depicts a rather grand and imposing man seated in an elegant, bow-backed chair which is draped with a tiger skin. He wears what looks like heavy armour. Gripping the arm of the chair with one hand, the other is ponderously toying with the long strands of his beard. Deep in thought, he is clearly reflecting upon something profound.

This medium-sized stone figure (around 25cm tall) was carved in China, possibly in the province of Fujian or Guangdong, sometime during the last half of the 1600s, these were also the first five decades of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). The man depicted in this smooth reddish-brown soapstone is the General Guan Yu, who lived in the late second to early third centuries. Guan Yu’s life, his heroic deeds and exploits, are described in the Chinese Classic, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He was noted for his loyalty to Liu Bei, the founder of the Shu Han State during the Three Kingdoms Era (220-280). Sometime after his death Guan Yu was subsequently deified during the Sui Dynasty period (581-618) as the god Guandi, and was venerated as an exemplar of such martial qualities as faithfulness, fortitude and honesty. By virtue of his military background he is seen as a god of war but by extension of these admirable martial qualities he has also come to be seen as a patron god of both business and of literature – hence he was frequently found depicted in literati shrines, the temples dedicated to literature and Confucian values. Guandi remains a popular deity today, featuring in all the major Chinese systems of belief, in Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; he is actively venerated in parts of China, Taiwan, and other overseas Chinese communities.* Curiously enough, Guandi is said to be a popular god for both businessmen and members of the Triad criminal fraternity ... I’ve also read that every Police Station in Hong Kong supposedly maintains a small shrine to Guandi somewhere on its premises. Make of that hearsay (particularly at this present time) whatever you will ...

Down the ages Guan Yu was posthumously honoured by many Chinese Emperors subsequent to his deification, who bestowed upon him many honorific titles and ranks, hence he is known by a number of names and exalted appellations. His martial power is thought to have made itself manifest and aided later Chinese armies in several important battles throughout the succeeding centuries – for instance, helping to repulse a formidable invasion of Korea ordered by the Japanese Shogun (or more correctly, Imperial Regent), Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the last decade of the 1500s. He was also highly venerated by General Yuan Shikai, who was briefly President of the Chinese Republic after the fall of the Qing Dynasty at the start of the 20th century, although Guandi’s help perhaps later fell short when Yuan Shikai unsuccessfully attempted to install himself as Emperor before he died in 1916. In Taoist and Buddhist Temples and Monasteries Guan Yu or Guandi is often prominently set up as a guardian deity figure. He was said to have been a studious and educated man, deeply versed in the Confucian Classic texts during his lifetime, consequently one of his key attributes as a god is that he is held to be the spiritual protector of the dharma. Hence, presumably his appeal to the venerable old ‘literati’ class of Chinese scholars, who deemed Guandi to be one of the patron gods of literature as well.

The small statue of Guandi in the British Museum is notable because it was bequeathed to the Museum by the collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), as part of the Museum’s founding collection in 1753. It is thought to have been acquired by Sloane sometime before 1723. Such soapstone carvings featured prominently in early European collections of Chinese art, although this particular statue isn’t thought to have been made specifically for export, but rather for the domestic market in China. Consequently, it is most likely that it was originally acquired by a British merchant whilst he was trading in China and subsequently brought back to England on his return, where it was later acquired by Sloane.

This statue of Guandi has a personal significance for me too, as it was part of an exhibition which I worked on in 2007. This exhibition was hosted in the former Imperial family’s residence in Beijing, the “Forbidden City”, now the Palace Museum. This means that almost certainly this was the first time that this statue has returned to China since it was first acquired there almost 300 years before. The exhibition, which was titled – Britain Meets the World, 1714-1830 – commemorated the first British Embassy to China in 1793 (which I’ve written about in more detail here), when Lord Macartney (1737-1806) famously chose not to kowtow before the Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799). It was an amazing experience to spend several weeks working behind the scenes in such a famous and historically significant location, being able to wander unescorted through the empty courtyards before the Imperial Palace was opened up to visitors each morning, or similarly after hours when it was closed. I even got the truly memorable chance to ride a bicycle through the red high-walled roads, like the young Pu Yi (1906-1967), as he is depicted in Bernardo Bertolucci’s eponymous film, The Last Emperor (1988).

On another trip I made around this time to Taiwan, whilst working at the National Palace Museum – where many of the Imperial treasures from the Forbidden City ended up after the Republican Government retreated there in 1949 – I found in a local market a beautifully detailed wooden carving of Guandi, similarly although more elaborately attired in armour, sitting in exactly the same pose with one hand resting on the arm of his chair and the other fondling his long beard as he frowns deep in thought. He now sits brooding on my bookcase, guarding the serried ranks of tomes behind him, many of which focus upon the long history of China; and each time I catch a glimpse of him it triggers thoughts of the red soapstone Guandi in the British Museum, who similarly sits brooding on all the things he’s seen in his 300 years of travelling from China to Britain, and from Britain to China and back again – from the early days of the Qing to the European era of 'Enlightenment', down the centuries to our contemporary modern day.

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*For an interesting and comprehensive overview of the changing attributes, as well as official and popular perceptions of Guandi throughout the ages, see: Prasenjit Duara, ‘Superscribing Symbols: The Myth of Guandi, Chinese God of War’ in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 4 (November, 1988), pp. 778-795

Also on 'Waymarks'

The First British Embassy to China, 1793-1794

British Artistic Impressions of Qing Dynasty China

Behind the Scenes - 25 Years Working at the British Museum