Bingyin Tai Sui General Geng Zhang

Bingyin Tai Sui General Geng Zhang is one of the Sixty Jiazi Tai Sui deities who assumes annual guardianship during the Bingyin year (e.g., 1986, 2046), overseeing human fortune and misfortune for that year. The Bingyin year corresponds to the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac; folk belief holds that those born in the Year of the Tiger experience benming nian (their zodiac birth year) during Bingyin and thus 'face the Tai Sui' directly, while those born in the Year of the Monkey 'clash with the Tai Sui'. Both groups are advised to visit Daoist temples to perform the An Tai Sui (‘Stabilising the Tai Sui’) ritual and worship the Tai Sui Star Lord, thereby appeasing celestial oversight and neutralising potential misfortunes. The Tai Sui cult originates in ancient stellar chronology centred on Jupiter (the ‘Year Star’, or Sui Xing) and the taboo against disturbing earth where the Tai Sui was believed to reside—hence the saying ‘disturbing the earth above the Tai Sui’ (Tai Sui tou shang dong tu). It is believed that the sixty Tai Sui deities rotate annually, each serving as celestial inspector of human virtue and vice; thus, during years of ‘conflict with the Tai Sui’, devotees offer sincere prayers and rituals to avert calamity, transform adversity into opportunity, and ensure safety, harmony, and smooth passage through the year.