Chinese Mythology · God / Legendary Figure
关羽 · Guān Yǔ
A real Three Kingdoms general who became one of China's most worshipped gods.
关羽
Alone among the figures here, Guan Yu began as a flesh-and-blood man — a general under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Han and Three Kingdoms period, who died in 220 CE and was progressively deified into a god of war, loyalty, and, later, wealth. His mythic image comes chiefly from the 14th-century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which amplified his loyalty and martial virtue.
The Peach Garden Oath — his sworn brotherhood with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei — and his refusal to betray Liu Bei even when richly honored by the rival Cao Cao make him the archetype of loyalty (义).
Unlike the purely mythical figures here, Guan Yu was a historical person later turned into a god — venerated across Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism alike.
Red-faced, long-bearded, and holding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, "Lord Guan" stands in temples, shops, restaurants, and police stations across the Chinese world as a guardian of loyalty and fortune.
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