5. Guan Yu
Guan Yu, sometimes known as Guan Gong (Lord Guan), was a general who served the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han Dynasty during the third century BC. He helped cause the civil war to bring down the Han and the rise of Shu Han, of which Liu Bei became the first emperor. There was a legend telling of Guan Yu, Liu Bei, and Zheng Fei, another general, swearing a blood oath in a peach garden to become brothers. Over the centuries, Guan Yu has become an icon of loyalty and righteousness, eventually recognized as a god of war and wealth, widely worshiped in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Chinatowns around the world by businessmen, shop owners, and kung fu practitioners. He appears in shrines as a mighty warrior with a stern red face, holding a halberd.
Interestingly, he is the patron saint of both policemen and criminal triads, as both groups have a keen sense of brotherhood and a code of honor. Statues of Guan Yu in police stations hold a halberd in the right hand, while those in triad shrines hold a halberd in the left hand and are usually more stern and threatening in their appearance. For triads, his loyalty reflects the loyalty of secret society blood oaths. Some say the legend of the blood oath in the peach garden represents the “family” between police, business, triads, and kung fu schools. In the early years of the triads, figures such as Guan Yu and Liu Bei were important representations of loyalty, but less important than the influence of the White Lotus religion. But since then, his influence has grown.
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In late 2014, Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters erected a statue of Lord Guan in the middle of Mong Kok to serve as a strategic deterrent against intervention by either police or the triads. This worked for a few weeks, until police were clearing the area and accidentally knocked the statue down, breaking off one of its hands. Subsequent bad luck for the cops (including one official accidentally wearing a hat bearing the old seal of Hong Kong’s colonial police, with British crown, to a news conference) was blamed by some on the god’s righteous indignation.
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