Đâu là vị Thần Tài nổi tiếng nhất Trung Quốc?

vận may đến dưới nhiều hình thức, và Thần Tài cũng có nhiều dáng vẻ. 

-----

The Lunar New Year is here, and with it, one of China’s most widely practiced traditional customs (phong tục): the welcoming of Caishen, the God of Wealth (Thần Tài), into one’s home. While typically associated with (liên quan tới) the fifth day of the first lunar month — which falls on Feb. 14 this year — many Chinese kick off (bắt đầu) the celebrations a day early, setting off firecrackers (pháo nổ) in the hopes of luring (thu hút) Caishen into their lives as quickly as possible.

Strictly speaking, it might be more accurate (chính xác) to call Caishen the “gods of wealth.” In the colossal (khổng lồ) system of Chinese folk belief, there’s no agreement (sự đồng thuận) as to who or what Caishen is — or even how many there are. The term is a catch-all (tên gọi chung) for a wide range of figures (nhân vật), from historical personages (nhân vật lịch sử) like Prince Bi Gan or Guan Yu of “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” fame to the devilish (quỷ quái), many-faced Wutong Shen, a collection of spirits just as likely to defile (làm ô uế) a woman as bring her family wealth.

But if you asked a Chinese person to name the God of Wealth they welcome into their home each year, they would probably say Zhao Gongming. Also known as Lord Zhao the Marshal, Zhao was a legendary general who lived more than 2,000 years ago and is the most prominent of Caishen’s forms, at least on the Chinese mainland.

Zhao wasn’t always associated with wealth. Although he had entered China’s pantheon by the Jin dynasty (266–420), he was originally associated with the spread of disease, not good fortune. For example, in Gan Bao’s “In Search of the Supernatural (thế lực siêu nhiên),” a compilation (biên soạn) of legends and stories dating to the Eastern Jin period (317–420), Zhao and two other divine generals are tasked by the Heavenly Emperor with spreading plague among humankind.

...Although the popularity of “The Investiture of the Gods” crowded some traditional deities (các vị thần) out of the pantheon, alternative (thay thế) forms of Caishen continued to be worshipped (thờ cúng) across China. It helps that the barriers to deification (thần thánh hóa) are low: Just about anyone associated with wealth can be worshipped as Caishen. That includes two legendary tycoons from Chinese history: Fan Li, a politician and strategist (chiến lược gia) who lived during the Spring and Autumn period (770–481 B.C.), and Shen Wansan, a businessman who lived during the late Yuan and early Ming. Loyal officials and generals like Guan Yu and Prince Bi Gan are also popular candidates for worship as gods of wealth, perhaps because their character traits (đặc điểm) — intelligence, honesty, and loyalty — are also seen as key to commercial (thương mại) success.

source: Sixth Tone,