Menshen- Chinese GroupCollective"Guardians of Gates"

The Older Guardians

Before the most famous Door Gods took their posts, older figures held the threshold. The Shanhaijing describes Shen Tu and Yu Lei, two deities who guard the entrance to the ghost world on Peach Blossom Mountain. Armed with peach-wood clubs, they capture demons who slip through the gate and feed them to tigers. Their images, carved into peach wood or painted on boards, were among the earliest door guardians in Chinese households. The Jingchu suishi ji, a sixth-century record of seasonal customs, documents the practice of hanging peach-wood charms inscribed with the two gods' names beside doorways.

Taizong's Ghosts

The Door Gods most widely recognized today are Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong, two generals who served Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty. According to the legend dramatized in the Xiyou Ji and widespread in folk tradition, Taizong was haunted by the vengeful ghosts of enemies slain during his rise to the throne. Night after night they besieged his chambers, wailing and scraping at the doors.

His two fiercest generals volunteered to stand guard. Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong took up positions outside the bedchamber door, armored and armed, glaring into the darkness. The ghosts did not come. For the first time in months, the emperor slept. But the vigil was grinding the generals down. Taizong ordered their portraits painted on the doors: two warriors in full armor, weapons raised, eyes blazing. The painted guardians worked as well as the living ones. The practice spread from the imperial palace outward until every household posted fierce faces on its doors at New Year.