Jinguashi Guan Yu
Record: 35 m
Multi-story-high statue of Guan Yu at Jinguashi, Taiwan. In Chinese Polytheism Guan Yu (died c.220) is the god of war whose immense popularity with the common people rests on the firm belief that his control over evil spirits is so great that even actors who play his part in dramas share his power over demons. Guandi is not only a natural favourite of soldiers but has been chosen patron of numerous trades and professions. This is because Guan Yu, the mortal who became Guandi after death, is said by tradition to have been a peddler of bean curd early in life. Guan Yu lived during the chivalrous era of the Three Kingdoms (3rd century CE) and has been romanticized in popular lore, in drama, and especially in the Ming dynasty novel Sanguo Yanyi (“Romance of the Three Kingdoms”), as a sort of Chinese Robin Hood. When a magistrate was about to carry off a young girl, Guan Yu came to her rescue and killed the man. Guan Yu was captured and executed in c.220 CE, but his fame continued to grow as rulers conferred successively greater titles upon him. Finally, in 1594, a Ming dynasty emperor canonized him as god of war—protector of China and of all its citizens.
