ABSTRACT
The village temple in Lin Brigade worshipped (or fushi, ‘served’ in local dialect) three gods: the Holy Benevolent Emperor (rensheng digong), Lord Chi (chifu wangye), and Marshall Liu (liufu yuanshuai). These three were Lin Village’s patron deities. Another local deity, Transient Lord (xunxing wangye), was worshipped not just by Lin Village, but included followers in Hecu, Hongshan, and Huangcu brigades. These villages formed a ritual circle and rotated this Transient Lord among them on a yearly basis.
