Gengshen Tai Sui General Mao Zi

Grand General Mao Zi, the Gengshen Tai Sui, is one of the Sixty Jiazi Tai Sui deities who rotate annually to assume celestial stewardship. He presides over the Gengshen year—such as 2040 and 2100—governing human fortune, misfortune, blessings, and calamities for that period. The Gengshen year corresponds to the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac; folk tradition holds that individuals born in the Year of the Monkey experience benming nian (‘root-life year’) during Gengshen, while those born in the Year of the Tiger encounter ‘clashing’ (chong) influences from the Tai Sui. Both groups are advised to visit Daoist temples to perform the An Tai Sui (‘Stabilising the Tai Sui’) and Bai Tai Sui (‘Worshipping the Tai Sui’) rituals, offering reverence to the Stellar Sovereign to neutralise adverse astrological forces. The Tai Sui cult originates in ancient stellar chronology centred on Jupiter (the ‘Year Star’, or Sui Xing) and the taboo phrase ‘disturbing the earth above the Tai Sui’—a metaphor for provoking cosmic retribution. It is believed that sixty Stellar Sovereigns, each embodying one of the Sixty Jiazi cyclical combinations, take turns governing the earthly realm year by year, observing human virtue and vice; thus, during years of astrological conflict, devotees engage in sincere prayer and ritual observance to dispel disasters, transform misfortune into blessing, and ensure peace, safety, and smooth passage through the year.