Voices from the Underworld: Chinese Hell deity worship in contemporary Singapore and Malaysia

292 Pages·2020·27.323 MB·English

by  Fabian Graham

voices from the underworld
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Previously published
The advocacy trap Stephen Noakes
Communists constructing capitalism: State, market, and the Party in China’s
financial reform Julian Gruin
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VOICES FROM THE
UNDERWORLD
Chinese Hell deity worship in contemporary
Singapore and Malaysia
fabian graham
Manchester University Press
GRAHAM_9781526140579_Print.indd 3 15/01/2020 10:34
Copyright © Fabian Graham 2020
The right of Fabian Graham to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published by Manchester University Press
Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 5261 4057 9 hardback
First published 2020
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for
any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does
not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or
appropriate.
Front cover:
Image of Tua Ya Pek. Photo by Fabian Graham.
Typeset by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire
Contents
List of plates and figures page vii
Series editors’ foreword ix
Preface and acknowledgements x
List of abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
Part I: Setting the scene
1 The modern Underworld tradition 15
2 Analysis: a baseline of comparison 21
3 The historical development of Underworld cosmology 32
Part II: The Underworld tradition in Singapore
4 Yu Feng Nan Fu Xuanshan Miao: setting a baseline of
comparison 41
5 A new Underworld God of Wealth, and foetus assistance rituals
in Singapore 62
6 Lunar Seventh Month: the centrality of graveyards in the
Underworld tradition 83
Part III: The Underworld tradition in Malaysia
7 Malaysia and the party spirit: guanxi and the creation of
‘intentional’ communities 113
8 Seventh Month rituals in southern Malaysia: salvation rituals and
Ah Pek parties 141
9 Seventh Month rituals in central Malaysia: coffin rituals and the
releasing of exorcised spirits 164
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vi contents
Part IV: Tracing the origins of the modern Underworld
tradition
10 Anxi Chenghuangmiao and cultural flows of local mythology 189
11 Penang: the earliest recollections of Tua Di Ya Pek embodied 202
12 Analysis and conclusions 214
Appendix of Chinese names 230
References 237
Index 244
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vii
Plates and figures
Plates
1 Yu Feng Nan Fu Xuanshan Miao
2 Oil wok ritual
3 Tua Ya Pek splices his tongue
4 Cemetery plot for foetuses, babies and young children
5 Offerings before the foetus ghost’s altar
6 Guan Gong paying respects to a Datuk Gong, Malaysia
7 The ‘Hell of Severing in Two’
8 Ah Boon resting in Di Ya Pek’s altar room
9 Di Ya Pek and luk thep dolls
10 Dasheng Gong Chenghuang Dian’s Underworld altar
11 One pair of Tua Di Ya Pek at the conference
12 My coffin ritual at Brickfields Chenghuangmiao
13 Miniature coffins frequently found on Singapore’s Underworld
altars
14 Anxi Chenghuangmiao’s Tua Di Ya Pek (top) compared to their
common depiction in Singapore and Malaysia (bottom)
15 Inviting the temple’s deities at Anxi Chenghuangmiao
16 Feeding Tua Ya Pek opium at Penang’s City God Temple
Figures
5.1 Bao Bei Ya in Geylang page 67
5.2 Tua Ya Pek at Sanzhong Gong 75
6.1 Central to the foetus ghost’s altar 91
6.2 Tua Ya Pek preparing to cast coins 92
6.3 Pierced with skewers representing the Eight Underworld Generals 100
7.1 The Third Court of King Songdi 120
7.2 Tua Di Ya Pek dancing 136
8.1 Dizangwang’s ‘huashen’ 146
8.2 Tua Di Ya Pek’s wardrobe 154
9.1 The prison cell 176
9.2 Di Ya Pek patrolling the area 178
viii plates and figures
10.1 Ba Ye Gong (Xie Bian) and Jiu Ye Gong’s (Fan Wujiu’s) new
graves 194
10.2 The lowest section of the new staircase 198
11.1 Underworld throne in Penang 213
All images in this book are the property of the author.
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ix
Series editors’ foreword
The study of China has in recent decades seen an explosion as many univer-
sities began to offer modules ranging from Chinese history, politics and
sociology to urban, cultural and Diaspora studies. This is welcome news; the
field grows when the world is hungry for knowledge about China. Chinese
studies as a result have moved further away from the interdisciplinary tradi-
tion of Sinology towards more discipline-based teaching and research. This
is significant because it has helped integrate the once-marginalised Chinese
subjects into firmly established academic disciplines; practitioners should
learn and grow within their own fields. This has also, however, compartmen-
talised Chinese studies as China scholars communicate much less with each
other than before since they now teach and research in different departments;
the study of China has lost some of its exceptionalism and former sheen.
Alternative Sinology calls for a more nuanced way forward. China scholars
can firmly ground themselves in their own perspective fields; they still have
the advantage of Sinology, the more holistic approach. The combination of
disciplinary and area studies can help us innovate and lead. Now is an excit-
ing time to take the study of China to new heights as the country has seen
unprecedented change and offers us both hindsight and new observations.
Alternative Sinology challenges China scholars. It calls on them to think
creatively and unsettle the status quo by using new and alternative materials
and methods to dissect China. It encourages them to take on understudied
and marginalised aspects of China at a time when the field is growing and
expanding rapidly. The case of China can promote the field and strengthen
the individual discipline as well.
Zheng Yangwen and Richard Madsen
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