Menshen
Menshen in Taiwan
Traditional Chinese	門神
Simplified Chinese	门神
Literal meaning	gate god(s)
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin ménshén Yue: Cantonese Jyutping mun4 san4 Southern Min HokkienPOJ Mn̂g-sîn

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Menshen, ordoor gods,^[1] are divine guardians of doors and gates inChinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pairShenshu (Chinese:神荼;Jyutping:San⁴syu¹;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Sîn-su) andYulü (Chinese:鬱壘;Jyutping:Wat¹leot⁶;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Ut-lu̍t) under theHan, but thedeified generalsQin Shubao (Chinese:秦叔寶;Jyutping:Ceon⁴ Suk¹bou²;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Chîn Siok-pó) andYuchi Gong (Chinese:尉遲恭;Jyutping:Wat¹ci⁴ Gung¹;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Ut-tî Kiong) have been more popular since theTang. In cases where a door god is affixed to a single door,Wei Zheng orZhong Kui is commonly used.

The gates and doors ofChinese houses have long received special ritual attention.^[1] Sacrifices to a door spirit are recorded as early as theBook of Rites.^[1][2] By theHan, this spirit had become the two godsShenshu andYulü, whose names or images were painted intopeachwood and attached to doors.^[1] When theEmperor Taizong of theTang was being plagued by nightmares, he ordered portraits of his generalsQin Shubao andYuchi Gong to be affixed to gates.^{[citation needed]} They eventuallycame to be considered divine protectors, replacing Shentu and Yulü and remaining the most common door gods to the present day.^[1] Qin and Yuchi, along with various otherdeified military leaders, make up a class ofmartial door gods intended to ward off evil spirits and bad influences. A separate group of scholars make up a class ofcivil door gods intended to attract blessings and good fortune.^[1] Some deities are also thought to have guardians who serve a similar role at their temples, such asMazu's companionsQianliyan andShunfeng'er.

The 10th chapter of theChinese novelJourney to the West includes an account of the origin of door gods. In it, theDragon King of theJing River disguised himself as a human to outsmart the fortune teller Yuan Shoucheng. Since he was able to control the weather, he made a bet with Yuan aboutChang'an's forecast for the next day. He was nonplussed, however, when he received an order from theJade Emperor telling him to give the city precisely the weather Yuan had predicted. The Dragon King preferred to win the bet and disregarded the order, going to Yuan to gloat the next day. Yuan remained calm and revealed that he had known the Dragon King's identity all along. Moreover, since the dragon had been so arrogant as to disregard an order from the Jade Emperor, his doom would be short in coming. The dragon was shocked to see his disobedience known and immediately pleaded with Yuan to save him. Yuan let him know that the Jade Emperor would sendWei Zheng—a senior minister from the court of theEmperor Taizong of theTang—to execute him at noon the following day. He told him his best course of action was to ask Taizong for help and, taking pity on the Dragon King, the emperor agreed to save him. In order to do so, the emperor summoned Wei Zheng to playgo with him in the morning. He endeavored to keep Wei from leaving until after noon, preventing him from carrying out the Jade Emperor's order, and was delighted when Wei grew so tired with the long game that he fell asleep. A little while later, however, the Great Ancestor was told that a dragon's head had fallen from the sky. Wei awoke and told him that his spirit had left his body during his nap and gone toHeaven to carry out the Jade Emperor's order. The annoyed spirit of the Dragon King then haunted the Great Ancestor each night until his generalsQin Shubao andYuchi Gong volunteered to stand guard at his door. The emperor enjoyed his peaceful sleep but did not want to continue bothering his two generals. In their place, he had artists paint their portraits and paste them to the doors. This was then copied by his subjects.^[3]

In modern use, door gods are usually printed images which are pasted to paired doors. They are usually replaced everyChinese New Year.^[1] Occasionally, they are sculpted in relief or placed as statues to either side of a door. The figures should face each other; it is considered bad luck to place them back to back.^{[citation needed]}

In ancient China, there was a ritual for a sacrifice to the door spirit of a wealthy home recorded in theBook of Rites.^[2] In modern China, door gods do not make up a formal element ofTaoism and are included as traditional decorations or as nods to popular superstition.^[1] There are, however, some deities worshipped for other reasons—including theAzure Dragon,^[4] theWhite Tiger,^[4] andMazu's companionsQianliyan andShunfeng'er—who also serve as door gods at Taoist temples.^[4]

Door gods are calledMunsin in Korea.

The following persons, some of whom are mythological figures, are known to have been worshipped as door gods.

1983 Shaw Brothers Movie OfGhosts Galore StarringChin Siu Ho And Chiang Kam In A Final Fight Against A Japanese Sorcerer (Hwang Jang Lee).

• Chinese gods and immortals
• Dvarapala
• Feng shui, which also employs shield walls,talismans,mirrors, andyin-yang symbols to protect doorways
• Gate guardian
• Heng and Ha
• Imperial guardian lions
• Munsin

• Clart, Philip (2008),"Menshen",The Encyclopedia of Taoism,Vol. II, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 744–5,ISBN 978-1135796341.
• Tang, Rose,"Twilight of the Door Gods",The Standard, Hong Kong.

• Media related toMenshen at Wikimedia Commons

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• Chinese deities
• Liminal deities

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