General Liu Meng (), also known as Mengjiang (猛将), is a deity worshipped in Chinese folk religion. He is associated with agriculture and is traditionally believed to protect crops from locusts.
Origin The identity of General Liu Meng has been associated with several historical figures. Different accounts have identified the deity with figures including Liu Qi, Liu Rui, and Liu Chengzhong.
One tradition identifies General Liu Meng with Liu Qi (), a military general of the Southern Song dynasty who fought against the Jin dynasty. Early Ming dynasty records, including the Hongwu Suzhou Fu Zhi (洪武苏州府志), mention a local deity surnamed Liu. By the 16th century, the Zhengde Gusu Zhi (正德姑苏志) associated the deity with the title "Mengjiang" (猛将). Later accounts connected Liu Qi with the worship of General Liu Meng and attributed to him the eradication of a locust plague.
Some accounts identify General Liu Meng as Liu Rui (), described in these accounts as Liu Qi's younger brother. A stele erected in 1858 in Hanyin County, Shaanxi, records a tradition concerning a Song figure named Liu Meng who had served in Chaozhou and was credited with catching locusts.
Another tradition identifies the deity with Liu Chengzhong (), a military commander of the Yuan dynasty. According to an account recorded in 1724, the deity appeared through a spirit medium (降灵) and was identified as Liu Chengzhong. The account describes him as having eradicated locusts in the Jianghuai region and later drowning himself. In the early Qing dynasty, the worship of General Liu Meng faced official opposition. During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, Suzhou governor Tang Bin banned the worship as an illicit cult (淫祀).
Later traditions gave General Liu Meng other identities. One account connects the deity with a Qing official sent by the Qianlong Emperor to supervise granaries in Dunhuang in 1778. According to this account, the grain under his supervision was protected from insects, and he was subsequently associated with the granary deity (廒神) and the "Living King of Insects" (活虫王).
State recognition
Although General Liu Meng originated as a local folk deity, his worship was subsequently incorporated into the Qing state ritual system. In 1724, the second year of the Yongzheng Emperor's reign, the emperor ordered the establishment of temples dedicated to General Liu Meng in Jiangxi and other provinces.
During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, the Ba La (八蜡) sacrifices were abolished from the state ritual system in 1745. General Liu Meng was subsequently included in the Da Qing Huidian (大清会典) as the "Orthodox God for Driving Away Locusts" (驱蝗正神).
The Qing court continued to confer honorific titles on General Liu Meng. By 1886, during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, his full title was Baokang Puyou Xianying Linghui Xiangji Xuhua Lingfu Liu Meng Jiangjun (保康普佑显应灵惠襄济栩化灵孚刘猛将军). The ritual rank associated with his worship was described as equivalent to that of Guan Sheng Dadi (关圣大帝).
Folk customs and worship
Tai Mengjiang (抬猛将, "Carrying the Fierce General") is a folk custom found in villages around Lake Tai. In Xukou, Wuzhong District, Suzhou, villages have their own statues of General Liu Meng. In Jiangjia Village, the procession takes place on the 13th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The ritual includes carrying the statue to other villages, businesses and local households, where blessings are bestowed on those taking part.
In Jiangjia Village, the custom is known as Chibo Tai Mengjiang (赤膊抬猛将), in which young men carry the palanquin bare-chested. The custom was included in the Wuzhong District intangible cultural heritage list in 2014.
The Tai Mengjiang custom has also been discussed in studies of the history of the Jiangnan region. Historian Zhao Shiyu's book Mengjiang Returns Home: A New History of Dongshan, Jiangnan (《猛将还乡：洞庭东山的新江南史》) examines the ritual in relation to the history of water-based communities in the Taihu region and their gradual settlement on land. A review of the book describes the worship of Liu Meng as part of this historical process and discusses it in terms of the movement from a dispersed society to an integrated society.
In Shandong, particularly in the Jinan region, Liu Meng temples were established in several localities. The Liu Meng Temple in Changqing District, for example, was also known as the "Grasshopper Temple" (蚂蚱庙). During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the temple was renovated with contributions from local officials as well as scholars and merchants.
The worship of Liu Meng also coexisted with that of other locust deities. In the Jinan region, Liu Meng and the Ba La gods were sometimes worshipped together, and the two traditions could also become confused with one another. In Licheng, a Liu Meng Temple on Dongjie Street was converted into a temple dedicated to Jin Gu Niangniang (金姑娘娘) in 1764 by Cui Yingjie, then governor of Shandong.
Confusion General Liu Meng is often confused or equated with Ba La (八蜡), the ancient eight agricultural gods, which included the insect god Ba Zha or Pa Cha (八咤). Originally, they were two distinct entities; however, in grassroots folk religion, they merged. In the academic paper Drought and Locust Disasters and Local Beliefs in the Jinan Region (清代济南地区旱蝗灾害与地方信仰) by Li Weixiang, it is noted that while the Qing state officially tried to replace the old Ba La (Pa Cha) sacrifices with General Liu Meng, the peasantry simply blurred the lines between them. Because both were "locust deities" (驱蝗神), they were frequently worshipped in the same temples, leading to their identities becoming confused and interchangeable (二者混淆的情况) in local folklore.
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