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 construction have not been verified; the youth division is located at 1432 Liliha Street

First built

1919 · The Honolulu branch of 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-surname kinship association of the Liu, Guan, Zhang and Zhao surnames, its religious basis being the Oath of the Peach Garden narrative from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms — taking Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun as shared ancestral deities and forming a constructed community of common descent that crosses surname lines. The Honolulu branch was founded in 1919; above the association's shrine hangs the society's plaque, flanked by embroidered banners of the four surnames, making it a kinship-association shrine rather than a public temple. Here Guan Yu holds a dual identity 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 common feature of the shrines of Chinese kinship associations, and differs in theological standing from the cult of Lord Guan as worshipped in Daoist temples in his aspects as Fumo Dadi (Great Emperor Who Quells Demons) and Xietian Dadi (Great Emperor Who Assists Heaven). The association remains active today and also maintains the Lung Kong Physical Culture Club.

Highlights

• Shrine of the joint-surname kinship association of Liu, Guan, Zhang and Zhao
• Religious basis in the fictive kinship of the Oath of the Peach Garden
• Guan Yu holds a dual identity as both ancestor and deity
• Founded in 1919, still active today