page_title: City God (China)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: City God (China) / History
caption_attribution_description: 中文（简体）‎: 上海城隍庙供奉汉光禄侯霍光大将军之灵位
context_page_description: The Chenghuangshen, is a tutelary deity or deities in Chinese folk religion who is believed to protect the people and the affairs of the particular village, town or city of great dimension, and the corresponding afterlife location.
  Beginning over 2000 years ago, the cult of the Chenghuangshen originally involved worship of a protective deity of a town's walls and moats. Later, the term came to be applied to deified leaders from the town, who serve in authority over the souls of the deceased from that town, and intervene in the affairs of the living, in conjunction with other officials of the hierarchy of divine beings.
context_section_description: There are temples dedicated to the local Chenghuangshen in many cities of China. Much as the ancient Indians, the ancient Sumerians, and the ancient Greeks did, the Chinese traditionally believed that guardian gods watched over cities. Chenghuangshen are believed to be involved in communal concerns such as the need for rain, and may be involved in personal requests such as recovery from illness. Town residents may appeal to the City God for help in a natural disaster or other crisis. The City God may also be called upon to help those who are accused of crimes. The accused appear before the god and ask for a sign to help prove their innocence.
  Usually, these patron gods are deified deceased officials. Chenghuangshen are believed to hold an important position in the imperial times it was often debated whether local gods such as the City God held more power than the local officials. There could also be a relation between the City God and the official. The official or magistrate would often turn to the Chenghuangshen for advice and help in governing the city.
  Over  time a large number of City God positions were created by official decrees, along with accompanying temples and images. Of these offices of City God, some might be a low ranking post in charge of a small village; others might be on the level of a whole province. In any case, by the nineteenth century the duties of the City God generally included accompanying three official processions per year and to perform certain administrative functions for the local spirits of the dead: on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month to let the ghost-spirits out of their winter quarters; on the 1st of the 7th month, to take census of the ghosts and ensure that they were fed; and on the biggest event of the three, the 1st of the 10th month, to gather together all the spirits, provide them all with winter clothing, and put them in their winter dwellings.
caption: The Chenghuangshen of Shanghai.
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