City God (China)

City God
Statue of the Deity in the Wenao Cheng Huang Temple of Magong,Taiwan
Chinese	城隍神
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Chéng huáng shén Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Sìhng wòhng sàhn Southern Min Hokkien POJ Sîng-hông-sîn

Part of a series on
Chinese folk religion
Concepts Tian—Shangdi Qi Shen Ling Xian ling Yinyang Hundun Mingyun Yuanfen Baoying Wu
Theory Chinese theology Chinese gods and immortals Chinese mythology Chinese creation myth Chinese spiritual world concepts Model humanity: Xian Zhenren Wen and wu
Practices Fenxiang Jingxiang Feng shui Miaohui Wu shamanism Jitong mediumship Precious scrolls
Institutions and temples Associations of good-doing Lineage associations or churches Chinese temple Ancestral shrine Chinese Folk Temples' Association
Festivals Qingming Zhongyuan Zhongqiu Jiuhuangye Qixi Duanwu Nian
Internal traditions Major cultural forms Chinese ancestral religion Chinese communal deity religion Chinese food therapy Chinese geomancy Chinese mother goddess worship Northeast China folk religion Traditional Chinese Medicine Main philosophical traditions: Confucianism (state rites) Taoism Other schools Ritual traditions: Folk ritual masters' orders Jitong mediumship Nuo folk religion Chinese shamanism Devotional traditions: Mazuism Wang Ye worship Salvation churches and sects: De teaching Jiugongdao Luo teaching Maitreya teachings Tiandi teachings Tianxian miaodao Xia teaching Xiantiandao Zaili teaching Qigong Confucian churches and sects: Holy Confucian Church Indonesian Confucian Church Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue Phoenix churches Xuanyuanism Taigu school
Related religions Benzhuism Bimoism Bon Dongbaism Miao folk religion Vietnamese folk religion Qiang folk religion Yao folk religion Zhuang folk religion
Religion portal
v t e

The Chenghuangshen (Chinese: 城隍神; pinyin: Chénghuángshén; lit. 'god of the moat and the walls" or "god of the boundary'), is a tutelary deity or deities in Chinese folk religion who is believed to protect the people and the affairs of the particular village, town or city of great dimension, and the corresponding afterlife location.

Beginning over 2000 years ago, the cult of the Chenghuangshen originally involved worship of a protective deity of a town's walls and moats. Later, the term came to be applied to deified leaders from the town, who serve in authority over the souls of the deceased from that town, and intervene in the affairs of the living, in conjunction with other officials of the hierarchy of divine beings.

They are considered above Tudigongs which themselves are above Landlord deities.

Houtu is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"), Sheji ("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods world wide.