The Kaizhang Shengwang 开漳圣王
Paul PengShare
Kaizhang Shengwang, also known as "Chen Shengwang" and "Shengwang Gong", is a local patron saint worshipped by the Minnan-speaking people in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, and Taiwan. It is recorded that Kaizhang Shengwang was named Chen Yuanguang.
In the long history of the development of Chinese civilization, the migration of people from the Central Plains to the south and their settlement in Fujian, where they promoted education, played a crucial role in the development of Fujian. Most of the immigrants who moved south to the Minyue region came from Henan. Among them, the incident in the early Tang Dynasty where Chen Zheng and his son Chen Yuanguang, who were from Gushi County, entered Fujian to suppress the rebellion marked the beginning of the history of Zhangzhou's civilization.
In the second year of Zongzhang in the Tang Dynasty (669), a "barbarian rebellion" broke out between Quanzhou and Chaozhou. General Guide Chen Zheng was ordered to serve as the governor of the Lingnan Military Expedition. Together with his son Chen Yuanguang, he led more than 9,000 government soldiers to the border area between the Seven Min and Hundred Yue regions to suppress the rebellion. They first set up farms and built forts in today's Yunxiao County, promoted farming, and ended the era of slash-and-burn cultivation in southern Fujian. Later, Chen Zheng died of illness and was buried in Jiangjun Mountain in Yunxiao.
His son Chen Yuanguang inherited his father's position. After more than a hundred battles, he finally quelled the "barbarian rebellion" in southern Fujian. In the second year of Chuigong in the Tang Dynasty (686), he petitioned the imperial court to establish Zhangzhou Prefecture. Since then, he promoted education to govern the people, advocated culture, implemented the rule of law, and changed local customs. The earliest administrative seat of Zhangzhou was in Xilin Village, Huotian Town, Yunxiao County today. Xilin Village is located on the banks of the Zhangjiang River, so the prefecture was named after the river, hence "Zhangzhou". Chen Yuanguang was the first prefect of Zhangzhou and was later revered as "Kaizhang Shengwang" (Holy King Who Founded Zhangzhou).
In the third year of Zhenghe in the Northern Song Dynasty (1112), Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty granted his temple the name "Weihui Temple", and the ancestral temple is located at the West Gate in Yunxiao City.
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About the Author
Paul Peng
Paul Peng is a Zhengyi Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi — the ancestral home of the Celestial Masters' tradition. Ordained at 25 after a dream from the Celestial Master, he has practiced for 25 years under Master Zeng Guangliang. He is the curator of this store, which is officially authorized by Tianshi Fu. All items are consecrated at the temple by the resident priest team.
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