Door God Yuchi Gong

Yuchi Jingde—courtesy name Jingde—was a native of Shanyang in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, and a renowned Tang-dynasty general whose decisive role in the Xuanwu Gate Incident earned him the title Duke of E State. Revered by the people as an unyielding, iron-faced warrior, legend holds that Emperor Taizong of Tang was plagued by nocturnal disturbances: clattering tiles, thrown stones, and ghostly wails outside his sleeping quarters. To quell the hauntings, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong volunteered to stand watch in full armour throughout the night—whereupon the spectres dared not approach. Thereafter, the emperor commissioned court painters to render their portraits for display on the palace’s left and right gates—a custom that evolved into the widespread folk tradition of hanging door god images during the Lunar New Year. In popular New Year prints, Yuchi Gong consistently appears with a blackened face, gripping his steel whip and glaring fiercely—forming, with the fair-faced Qin Qiong (who wields a double-edged iron mace), China’s most iconic and widely disseminated pair of martial door gods, embodying the common people’s deepest hopes for protection against evil and assurance of domestic safety.