page_title: Sanxing (deities)
section_title: The three gods, their stars and their attributes
hierarchical_section_title: Sanxing (deities) / The three gods, their stars and their attributes
caption_attribution_description: English: Three Star Gods Temple. Golden Shuttle Island, Dali The Three Star Gods (Sanxing) of the temple, whose seated statues are shown here, are Fu Xing (Good Fortune), Lu Xing (Prosperity), and Shou Xing (Longevity). The temple is also interesting as an example of local village worship. Generally speaking, the local god of a village is often a local hero (that is, a real live person), who at some point after death became deified, and from then on was worshiped as the protector of the village.
context_page_description: The Sanxing are the gods of the three stars or constellations considered essential in Chinese astrology and mythology: Jupiter, Ursa Major, and Canopus. Fu, Lu, and Shou, or Cai, Zi and Shou are also the embodiments of Fortune, presiding over plant Jupiter, Prosperity, presiding over Ursa Major, and Longevity, presiding over Canopus. They have emerged from Chinese folk religion. Their iconic representation as three, old, bearded, wise men dates back to the Ming dynasty, when the gods of the three stars were represented in human form for the first time. They are sometimes identified with other deities of the Chinese religion or of Taoism.
  The term is commonly used in Chinese culture to denote the three attributes of a good life. Statues of these three gods are found on the facades of folk religion's temples and ancestral shrines, in nearly every Chinese home and many Chinese-owned shops on small altars with a glass of water, an orange or other auspicious offerings, especially during Chinese New Year. Traditionally, they are arranged right to left, just as Chinese characters are traditionally written from right to left.
caption: Fuxing, Luxing, and Shouxing at a Benzhu temple at the Jinsuo Island in Dali, Yunnan.
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