Monday, January 19, 2015

Hu Tianbao: Tu Er Shen (Rabbit God)


The history of Hu Tianbao has been largely forgotten by the Chinese.

Tu Er Shen is a Chinese deity who manages the love and sex between gay men. His name literally means "Rabbit Deity".

According to Zi Bu Yu, a book written by Yuan Mei (a Qing dynasty writer), Tu Er Shen was a man named Hu Tianbao.

Hu Tianbao fell in love with a handsome imperial inspector of Fujian Province. One day Hu Tianbao was caught peeping on the inspector through a bathroom wall, at which point he confessed his attraction for the other man. The imperial inspector had Hu Tianbao sentenced to death by beating.

One month after Hu Tianbao's death, he appeared in a dream to a man from his hometown. He told the man that because his death had been cause by love, the underworld officials decided to right the injustice by appointing him the god and safe-guarder of gay men and the relationships and affections.

After his dream the man erected a shrine to Hu Tianbao, which became very popular in Fujian province, so much so that in late Qing times, the cult of Hu Tianbao was targeted for extermination by the Qing government.


A slang term for gays in late imperial China was Tuzi (Rabbits) which is why Hu Tianbao is referred to as the Rabbit God, though in fact he has nothing to do with rabbits and should not be confused with Tu-Er-Ye the rabbit on the moon.

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