Tudigong
A Tudigong (Chinese: 土地公; lit. 'Lord of the Land') is a kind of Chinese tutelary deity of a specific location. There are several Tudigongs corresponding to different geographical locations, sometimes multiple ones will be venerated together in certain regions.
| Tudigong | |||||||||||||||||
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A shrine to a local Tudigong along the Ping Shan Heritage Trail, in Hong Kong | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 土地公 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Lord of the Land | ||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 土地 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Second alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 土公 | ||||||||||||||||
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They are tutelary (i.e. guardian or patron) deities of locations and the human communities who inhabit it in Chinese folk religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. They are portrayed as old men with long beards.
The definitive characteristic of Tudigongs is that they are limited to their specific geographical locations. The Tudigong of one location is not the Tudigong of another location
They are considered to be among the lowest ranked divinities, just below City Gods ("God of Local City"), and above landlord gods.
Often, a specific person who did a great service to their local community will be seen as becoming a Tudigong after their death.
When people move from one location to another, they will say goodbye to their local Tudigong and worship the one of the new location
The deities are considered to have a kind of appointed position like an alderman, with different deities being appointed to different areas.
Houtu is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"), Sheji ("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods worldwide.