Lung Kong Kung Shaw Shrine, Honolulu檀香山龙冈公所神坛

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · Hawaii State · Honolulu · The address of the association hall and the date of its building have not been verified; the youth division is at 1432 Liliha Street

First built

1919 · The Honolulu branch of the Lung Kong Kung Shaw was founded in 1919; a youth division was added on 22 June 1958

Overview

The Lung Kong Kung Shaw is a joint-lineage organization of the four surnames Liu, Guan, Zhang and Zhao, its religious basis lying in the narratives of the Oath of the Peach Garden and the reunion at Gucheng in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms — taking Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun as shared ancestral deities and forming a fictive kinship community across surname lines. The Honolulu branch was founded in 1919; above the altar of the association hangs the society’s plaque, flanked by embroidered banners of the four surnames, making it an association altar rather than a public temple. Guan Yu holds a dual identity here as both ancestor and deity: he is at once the blood ancestor of kinsmen surnamed Guan and the god of loyalty and righteousness jointly venerated by all four surnames. This “fusion of ancestor and deity” is a general feature of the altars of Chinese kinship associations, and differs in theological standing from the cult of Lord Guan in Daoist abbeys, where he appears as Fumo Dadi (Great Emperor Who Quells Demons) and Xietian Dadi. The association remains active today and also maintains the Lung Kong Physical Culture Club.

Highlights

• The altar of the joint-lineage organization of the Liu, Guan, Zhang and Zhao surnames
• The Oath of the Peach Garden and the reunion at Gucheng as the religious basis of a fictive kinship
• Guan Yu holds a dual identity as both ancestor and deity
• Founded in 1919 and still active today