Taishan Shigandang Custom

The Taishan Shigandang custom sets small stone tablets or figures at bridge or road junctions or built into house walls, carved with "Shigandang" or "Taishan Shigandang" to guard the home, avert ill fortune and suppress evil. The practice can be traced to the Western Han text Jijiuzhang by Shi You; after the Ming dynasty the belief fused with the worship of Mount Tai, the eastern sacred peak, and "Shigandang" became "Taishan Shigandang." In May 2006 the State Council entered it in the first national ICH list, project number Ⅹ-53, under folklore.

The tablets are most often placed at T-junctions and corners seen as "ill-omened" spots, their tops carved with the heads of lions or tigers and inscribed with the five characters "Taishan Shigandang"; people believe they quell a hundred demons, avert disaster and keep the household well, and they can still be found at old houses and lane-ends across Tai'an and all of China.

Growing from ancient stone worship, the Taishan Shigandang custom is a typical union of Mount Tai belief with the Chinese folk tradition of guarding the home, carrying the people's plain hope for safety, justice and protection, and standing as an important specimen for the study of Chinese folk belief.

Tai'an is home to the Taishan Shigandang Cultural Park and a national intangible heritage park that gather and display its tablets and customs.