The Door Gods are deities in Taoism who preside over doors. The belief in Door Gods has a long history. The Book of Rites·Records of Sacrifices states: "The king establishes seven sacrifices for all clans, feudal lords establish five sacrifices for their states, senior officials establish three sacrifices, and scholar-officials establish two sacrifices." Among these "seven sacrifices", "five sacrifices", "three sacrifices", and "two sacrifices", there is the "door sacrifice". It can be seen that the belief in Door Gods has been widespread since the pre-Qin period.
The earliest Door Gods were two "peach wood figures" carved from peach wood. It is said that they were the incarnations of two divine generals, Shen Tu and Yu Lei, sent by the Yellow Emperor in ancient times to command the ghosts wandering in the human world. Regarding the images of these two gods, The Comprehensive Records of the Origins and Development of the Three Teachings: Gods and Immortals contains a painting depicting them. Standing under a peach tree, they are bare-chested with thick black beards, raised eyebrows and hair, horns on their heads, holding peach wood swords and reed ropes, looking fierce and menacing.
In the Tang Dynasty, another Door God, Zhong Kui, emerged. He not only caught ghosts but also ate them. Therefore, people often pasted images of Zhong Kui on doors on New Year's Eve or the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits. His image features a leopard-like head, curly beard, ring-shaped eyes, hook-like nose, bell-like ears, wearing a black gauze cap, black court shoes, a bright red robe, holding a sword in his right hand and a ghost in his left hand, staring angrily, looking majestic and full of righteousness.
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Qin Qiong and Yu Chigong are the martial Door Gods. They were worshipped as Door Gods roughly after the Yuan Dynasty, though both were actually from the Tang Dynasty. According to records in The Search for Gods in the Orthodox Taoist Canon of the Ming Dynasty, The Comprehensive Records of the Three Teachings: Gods and Immortals, and A Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Through the Ages, these two Door Gods were the generals Qin Qiong (Qin Shubao) and Yu Chigong (Yu Chi Jingde) of the Tang Dynasty. It is said that Emperor Taizong of Tang was in poor health, and there were evil ghosts howling outside his bedroom, making it impossible for him to have peace day and night in the six palaces and three courtyards.
Thus, Emperor Taizong told all his ministers about the entire situation. Qin Shubao memorialized, "Your servant has killed people in my life like breaking dry twigs, and the piled-up corpses are like swarms of ants. How could I fear little ghosts! I am willing to stand guard in military attire together with Yuchi Jingde." Emperor Taizong approved the request, and that night he had the two men stand on either side of the palace gate. Sure enough, the night passed safely without any incidents.
After rewarding the two men, Emperor Taizong thought it was really hard for them to guard the palace gate all night long. So he ordered painters to draw portraits of the two, depicting them in full military uniform with angry expressions, holding jade axes in their hands, with whips, chains, bows and arrows at their waists. These portraits were hung on the two palace gates, and from then on, he could sleep soundly.
From the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China, the warrior Door Gods varied across regions in China. For example, the Door Gods worshipped in Henan were Zhao Yun and Ma Chao of the Shu State during the Three Kingdoms period; people in Hebei worshipped Ma Chao and Ma Dai; in northwestern Hebei, they worshipped Xue Rengui and Gai Su of the Tang Dynasty; people in Shaanxi worshipped Sun Bin and Pang Juan; people in Chongqing worshipped Qin Liangyu, a famous female commander of the White Pole Army at the end of the Ming Dynasty; while in the Hanzhong area, Meng Liang and Jiao Zan were often pasted.
In addition to the above influential Door Gods, in the old days, the Suzhou area once regarded General Wen and Marshal Yue as Door Gods. Records of Wu County states: "Door Gods are painted in five colors, mostly depicting the images of the two gods Wen and Yue." The "Wen" god refers to Wen Qiao of the Jin Dynasty, and the "Yue" god refers to Yue Fei of the Southern Song Dynasty. Besides, there are also palace maid Door Gods, the Two Generals Heng and Ha Door Gods, the Door Gods of Promotion and Wealth, etc., with a great variety of images.
