Jinlong Si Da Wang (Great King of Golden Dragon)

Jinlong Si Da Wang—Xie Xu—emerged as a water deity associated with grain transport during the Ming dynasty. His historical prototype was Xie Xu, a native of Hangzhou at the end of the Southern Song dynasty and a kinsman of Empress Dowager Xie. He studied at the Tiao River but, witnessing the irreversible decline of the Song state, chose to drown himself in loyalty after the dynasty’s fall; he was buried at the foot of Jinlong Mountain. Legend holds that during the early Ming period, at the Battle of Lüliang Rapids, Xie Xu manifested supernaturally to aid Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang’s forces, reversing the course of the waters and turning the tide of battle. In gratitude, the emperor conferred upon him the title Jinlong Si Da Wang, establishing him as the paramount guardian deity of the Grand Canal’s grain transport system. Throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, both the Superintendents of Grain Transport and the Governors-General of Rivers and Canals performed annual rites in his honour; boatmen plying the canal from south to north burned incense before his shrines, and temples dedicated to Jinlong Si Da Wang proliferated across prefectures and counties along the waterway. His cult spread throughout northern and southern China aboard grain-laden vessels, making him the most central and venerated deity in Grand Canal folk culture.