Guan Gong Belief Custom

The Guan Gong belief custom centers on Guan Yu, the famed Three Kingdoms general, revered by later ages as the embodiment of loyalty and righteousness and as the God of War, worshipped without interruption across the dynasties. Tradition holds that at the end of the Eastern Han, Cao Cao buried Guan's head at Luoyang with the rites of a prince and built a temple — the origin of Guanlin. Jointly declared by Luoyang and Yuncheng, it entered the national ICH list in 2008.

The custom centers on worshipping Guan Gong, with incense, bows, recited invocations, opera offerings and temple fairs; folk belief honors him as a god of loyalty, protection and wealth, venerated widely by Chinese at home and abroad. On Guan Gong's birthday and traditional festivals the temples are especially busy, the rites grave yet lively.

The Guan Gong belief custom is a national-level item of intangible cultural heritage. As a folk belief that spread across China and overseas, it gathers, around the core ideal of loyalty and righteousness, a sense of shared identity and moral consensus — a vivid case of traditional Chinese values enduring among the people.

In Luoyang, Guanlin is a key bearer of the Guan Gong custom — the burial place of Guan Yu's head and a classical complex combining grove and temple; whether on an ordinary visit or during festival fairs, one can feel both the solemnity and the popular fervor of his worship.