If you are in Chinatown and paying attention to restaurants, stores, and such, you may find many of them with mini shrines of Guan Yu similar to this:
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| A typical Guan Yu shrine you may find in Chinatown all over |
Guan Yu was a real person that lives in the Three Kingdoms period of China, and due to his unerring sense of honor (and in the end, died for it), he became venerated for his various virtues, such as total honesty, martial prowess, brotherhood, and later, extended to other virtues such as justice, business integrity, and fortune. In fact, Guan Yu was so popular, that after his death in the 3rd century, he was eventually adopted by both Taoist and Buddhist as a minor deity. And there are temples worshipping his all over Asia, including Japan, Korea, and various places of Chinese Diaspora.
In fact, in the Qing Dynasty (the final one), Guan Yu was raised to the status of "Saint of War" and equal to that of Confucius (who's "Saint of Culture")
Guan Yu is also known as Guan Gong, Guan Di, and various other spellings and pronunciations from different transliterations and different Chinese dialects.
Guan Yu was regarding as a guardian of justice, esp. in Hong Kong, probably due to a historical incident, where he was once captured by his enemy Cao Cao, and Cao Cao, instead executing him, lavished him with gifts and tried to recruit him. Guan Yu agreed to defeat two armies for Cao Cao, and did just that, then returned to his own side. Cao Cao did not attempt to chase him down. Years later, when Cao Cao was defeated in battle elsewhere, Guan Yu had a chance to capture or kill Cao Cao for his side, but let Cao Cao pass through unharmed, at risk to his own life and reputation, showing that he is fair no matter what. You will find a shrine to Guan Yu in EVERY police station in Hong Kong (though worship is technically optional).
Interestingly, the Triads and criminal elements of Hong Kong also worship Guan Yu, for Guan Yu was the 2nd of three god brothers: Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhuge Liang. And Guan Yu was faithful to his brothers to the end. And the brotherhood was very important to the Triads and such.
Guan Yu's eventual defeat and death can be attributed to betrayal. He had to leave his main provinces in the hands of two subordinates he did not trust. His mistrust was later proven when they failed to defend his territory when his enemies invaded, taking control of the city and thus, essentially holding the families of his soldiers hostage, leading to most of his soldiers deserting. Eventually they were surrounded and captured, then executed, probably because he would never turn against his godbrothers and holds no value as a hostage.
When Chinese immigrated to the US in the mid-19th century, Guan Yu worship came with them. One of the earliest Chinese temples built in the US, the Mendocino Joss House (in Mendocino, CA) back in 1852, was in fact a Guan Yu temple.
Businessmen and merchants later adopted Guan Yu as a god of business as you want someone with the utmost integrity and honesty, and this later extended to wealth, making Guan Yu a deity of wealth as well.
And that is why you often see Guan Yu shrines in Chinatown, both large ones, like this one, and smaller ones you often see in individual stores and businesses.
Bonus trivia: There is ANOTHER Guan Yu Temple here in Chinatown on Stockton. It was said that Mrs. Harry S. Truman, on the day before the re-election in 1946, came to see the advice of Guan Yu, and she got a fortune from the temple, which was favorable. Truman won the election, and the fortune she got was still on display... at the 4th story of a building we will visit later (on your own time!)
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