ABSTRACT
The corrupt gods, those unacknowledged by the state, become correct gods by the decree of an emperor. Kuang Tai Uong, the god of surgery, it is taught, was a foreigner, originally from the Loochoo Islands, who came to the middle kingdom and practised surgery. Surgery, in the Chinese sense, related to the cure of diseases which appear on the surface of the body, as sores, ulcers, cancers. In many large idol processions there is also a man dressed neatly, carrying the instruments of torture and punishments in common use in a magistrate’s office, as the cangue, leathern thong for slapping the face, instruments for compressing the ankles and the fingers. The goddess is represented as sitting upon the back of a tiger in a crouching posture. Objects terrestrial and celestial, objects visible and invisible, and objects real and imaginary, are made the recipient of the homage of the Chinese.
