James Baquet

    jamesbaquet@gmail.com

    EVEN if you’ve never visited a temple, you may have encountered a red-faced military figure with a long, side-swept black beard. He’s commonly seen in shops and restaurants as well as in different kinds of temples — Buddhist, Taoist and folk.

    This is Guan Yu, called by some Taoists Guan Di and by Buddhists Jia Lan. He was a real person, born during the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) in present-day Shanxi Province. As a young man, he learned to recite long passages of Chinese classics, despite working in a low occupation — some say as a seller of tofu.

    One legend about his red face says that a girl had been forced by a local magistrate to become his concubine. When Guan heard of this, he came to her aid and ended up slaying the magistrate. He was forced to flee across the mountains where, seeing his reflection when he stopped to wash in a stream, he discovered his face had turned red — perhaps a sign of his passionate anger.

    Later, as detailed in the Ming classic “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” he swore loyalty in a peach grove to two friends, Zhang Fei (usually shown with a black face), and Liu Bei (often seen with a white one). An image of the three, with their multi-colored faces, can be seen at the Guandi Temple in Xin’an Ancient City in Shenzhen.

    In the end, Guan was captured and put to death. His head was sent as a gift to the warlord Cao Cao, who buried it with great honors. The burial site can still be visited at Guanlin Temple in Luoyang, Henan.

    Guan is still considered a model of honor and loyalty.