A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVEN
As gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE — CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
On the Matter of Zao Jun — 竈君 — the Kitchen God
His name is Zao Jun — 竈君.
Zao — 竈 — means stove. Hearth. The place where fire meets food.
Jun — 君 — means master. Lord. One who governs.
Together — 竈君 — the Stove Master. The Lord of the Hearth.
He is also called Zao Shen — 竈神 — the Stove God.
He is also called Zao Wang — 竈王 — the Stove King.
He is also called Zao Jun Gong — 竈君公 — the Stove Master Lord.
He is also called Siming Zhenjun — 司命真君 — the True Lord of Life.
He is also called Zao Wangye — 竈王爺 — Grandfather Stove King. This is the name used in northern China.
His full official title is: Great High Lord of the Stove of the Eastern Kitchen of the Nine Heavens, Bestower of Blessings and Recorder of Virtue — 東廚司命九靈元王定福神君 — Dong Chu Siming Jiuling Yuanwang Dingfu Shenjun.
He is the most important of all Chinese household gods — 家神 — jiashen.
He lives inside the kitchen stove — 廚房竈台 — chufang zaotai.
He watches everything that happens in the household.
He reports everything to the Jade Emperor — 玉皇大帝 — Yu Huang Dadi — once each year.
He has been worshipped since at least the second century before the common era.
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On the oldest form of Zao Jun.
The worship of Zao Jun originated as early as the Shang dynasty — 商朝 — Shang Chao.
It was recorded in the ritual texts of the Zhou dynasty — 周朝 — Zhou Chao.
In the oldest accounts he is linked to a son of Emperor Zhuanxu — 顓頊 — named Li — 黎.
In the oldest understanding he was originally a god of fire — 火神 — huoshen — assigned to oversee the household stove.
He was not yet a watcher of human behavior in these oldest accounts.
By the Eastern Jin dynasty — 東晉 — Dong Jin — he had taken on the role of monitoring human behavior, recording sins, and reporting to the Jade Emperor.
This expanded his function from fire god to moral overseer.
The expansion is recorded in the texts of that period.
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On the Five Household Deities — 五祀 — Wu Si.
By the Qin — 秦朝 — Qin Chao — and Han — 漢朝 — Han Chao — dynasties, Zao Jun was counted among the Five Household Deities — 五祀 — Wu Si.
The five are:
The Door God — 門神 — Menshen.
The Well God — 井神 — Jingshen.
The Toilet God — 廁神 — Ceshen.
The Hearth God — 中霤神 — Zhongliu Shen — god of the central space of the house.
The Stove God — 竈神 — Zaoshen — Zao Jun himself.
Together these five protect the household from all directions and all functional spaces.
Zao Jun is the most powerful of the five.
He is the most widely worshipped.
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On the first origin account. Zhang Dan — 張單.
There are more than forty different stories of how Zao Jun became the Kitchen God.
This is recorded in the encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng — 古今圖書集成 — compiled during the Qing dynasty.
The most widely recorded account names him as Zhang Dan — 張單.
He is also called Zhang Ziguo — 張子郭.
He was married to a virtuous woman named Ding Xiang — 丁香.
He fell in love with a courtesan named Haitang — 海棠.
He left Ding Xiang for Haitang.
Heaven punished him.
He was struck blind.
His wealth disappeared.
Haitang left him.
He became a beggar.
One winter night he begged at a house he did not recognize.
The woman of the house took him in.
She fed him.
She cared for him.
He told her his story.
He confessed his regret for what he had done.
She told him to open his eyes.
His sight was restored.
He recognized his former wife Ding Xiang.
He was overcome with shame.
He threw himself into the kitchen stove — 廚竈 — chu zao.
He did not realize the fire was lit.
Ding Xiang tried to save him.
She managed to pull out only one of his legs.
He burned to death.
Ding Xiang built a shrine above the stove where he died.
She worshipped there every day.
The Jade Emperor took pity on Zhang Dan.
Instead of becoming a hopping corpse — 殭屍 — jiangshi — the usual fate of suicides — he was given the position of Stove God.
He was reunited with Ding Xiang in the afterlife.
To this day a fire poker is sometimes called Zhang Dan's Leg — 張單的腿 — Zhang Dan de tui.
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On the second origin account. Zhang Lang — 張郎.
In this account the mortal man is called Zhang Lang — 張郎.
He was poor.
He was forced to sell his wife.
Years passed.
He unwittingly became a servant in the house of his wife's new husband.
His wife recognized him.
She took pity on him.
She baked him cakes — 餅 — bing.
She hid money inside the cakes.
He did not notice the money.
He sold the cakes for a small amount.
When he realized what he had done he was overcome with shame.
He took his own life.
Heaven took pity on him.
Instead of becoming a hopping corpse — 殭屍 — jiangshi — he was given the position of Kitchen God.
He was reunited with the wife he had lost.
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On the note regarding the two accounts.
Both accounts end the same way.
A foolish or faithless husband.
A loyal and forgiving wife.
Death by the man's own hand or by accident.
Heaven's pity.
Elevation to Kitchen God.
Reunion with the wife.
The scholar Werner recorded that there are over forty different versions of this origin story.
None is declared the single true version.
All share the same ending.
The man who failed his wife ends up living in her kitchen forever.
This is recorded without further comment.
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On his wife.
His wife is called Zao Jun Nainai — 竈君奶奶 — Grandmother of the Stove God.
She is also called Zao Wang Nainai — 竈王奶奶.
She sits beside her husband in the paper effigy.
She holds two pots — one on his left and one on his right.
The pot on the left records good deeds — 善事 — shan shi.
The pot on the right records bad deeds — 惡事 — e shi.
She writes down everything that is said in the household over the course of the year.
She prepares the record for her husband's annual report.
She is his scribe — 書記 — shuji.
He reports. She records.
They have worked together in this way for more than two thousand years.
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On his residence.
He lives in the kitchen stove.
He observes everything that occurs within the household from this position.
Every argument. Every kindness. Every lie. Every act of generosity.
Every word said by every member of the family.
Nothing escapes him.
Nothing escapes his wife's two pots.
Each household has one and only one Zao Jun.
He is attached to one stove.
He is attached to one family.
If a family divides into two households, they must acquire a second stove.
The second stove must be dedicated to Zao Jun in a ceremony called Fen Zao — 分竈 — Stove Division.
The new household gets its own Zao Jun.
The original Zao Jun remains with the original stove.
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On the stove and family identity.
In ancient Chinese households the stove defined the family unit.
Three generations living under one roof shared one stove.
The eldest son inherited the stove when the father died.
He inherited Zao Jun with it.
Younger sons who established their own households took live coals — 炭火 — tan huo — from the original stove when they left.
They introduced the coals to their new stoves.
This was the act of inviting Zao Jun to come to the new home.
This recognized the new household as a continuation of the original family line.
The fire was the family.
The family was the fire.
Zao Jun witnessed both.
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On the annual report — 年終報告 — Nian Zhong Baogao.
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month — 臘月二十三 — La Yue Er Shi San — Zao Jun ascends to heaven.
In some traditions this occurs on the twenty-fourth day — 臘月二十四 — La Yue Er Shi Si. The day varies by region.
He goes to the Jade Emperor's court.
He delivers his annual report on the behavior of the family.
He reports their good deeds.
He reports their bad deeds.
The Jade Emperor determines the family's fortune for the coming year based on this report.
A good report brings blessings — 福 — fu.
A bad report brings punishment — 罰 — fa.
The family has no influence over what the Jade Emperor decides.
They have influence only over what Zao Jun says.
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On how the family prepares for his departure.
The family makes offerings before he leaves.
They present sticky sweets — 糖瓜 — tang gua — sugar melons.
They present malt candy — 麥芽糖 — maiya tang.
They present sesame seed cakes — 芝麻糕 — zhima gao.
They present fruit and incense.
They smear honey — 蜂蜜 — fengmi — or malt syrup directly onto the mouth of his paper effigy.
The honey sweetens his words.
If his mouth is sweet, his report will be sweet.
Some families smear so much honey that his lips stick together.
If his lips stick together, he cannot speak.
If he cannot speak, he cannot report the bad things.
This is the practical logic behind the ritual.
In some regions wine dregs — 酒糟 — jiu zao — are also smeared on his mouth.
The wine is intended to make him drunk before he ascends.
A drunk Kitchen God gives a confused report.
A confused report is safer than an accurate one.
The Song dynasty poet Fan Chengda — 范成大 — wrote a poem addressed directly to Zao Jun.
He implored him: do not speak of the servants' quarrels. Do not mention the cats and dogs touching things they should not. Do not repeat what you have seen to the clouds.
The poem is preserved.
It tells the reader everything about the average Chinese family's relationship with the god watching them from the kitchen.
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On the burning of the effigy.
After the honey and the offerings, the paper effigy of Zao Jun is burned.
The burning sends him to heaven.
The smoke carries him upward.
The higher the smoke rises, the better.
Firecrackers — 鞭炮 — bianpao — are lit to speed his journey.
The chariot carrying his effigy is made of papier-mâché.
It is burned along with him.
He travels to the Jade Emperor in style.
While he is gone, the household is unguarded.
The family is temporarily vulnerable to malevolent spirits — 惡鬼 — e gui.
This period of vulnerability lasts until Zao Jun returns.
Families do not leave their homes unprotected during this period.
Some traditions hold that gambling and other prohibited activities are permitted during the week Zao Jun is in heaven.
There is no watch-bird.
There are no records being kept.
For one week the household is unobserved.
This detail is recorded in the old accounts.
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On the return of Zao Jun.
He returns on New Year's Day — 新年 — Xin Nian — or New Year's Eve — 除夕 — Chu Xi.
The family welcomes him back.
They clean the kitchen thoroughly.
They put up a new paper effigy above the stove.
They light firecrackers for his arrival.
They present new offerings.
The new effigy is fresh. Unsmudged. The face is clear.
Zao Jun is back in his position.
The kitchen is under watch again.
The family begins a new year under his observation.
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On his appearance in the paper effigy.
He is depicted as a kindly old man — 和藹老人 — he'ai laoren.
He wears official robes — 官服 — guanfu.
He wears a judge's hat — 官帽 — guanmao.
His expression is benevolent.
His wife sits beside him.
She holds the two pots.
They are always depicted together.
The effigy is usually printed on red paper — 紅紙 — hong zhi — the color of good fortune.
Incense sticks stand before the effigy throughout the year.
Food is sometimes placed before it.
The fire beneath the stove keeps him warm.
He sits above it all year.
He watches all year.
He remembers all year.
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On his birthday.
His birthday is the third day of the eighth lunar month — 八月初三 — ba yue chu san.
Offerings of food and incense are made on this day.
Some families make offerings on the first and fifteenth of every month.
The most important day of his year is the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.
That is not his birthday.
That is the day he leaves.
His departure is observed more widely than his birthday.
The departure matters more.
What he says when he goes matters more than the day he was born.
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On the twentieth century.
In the early twentieth century Chiang Kai-shek — 蔣介石 — Jiang Jieshi — launched the New Life Movement — 新生活運動 — Xin Shenghuo Yundong.
Traditional religious practices were discouraged.
Zao Jun's effigy was removed from many kitchens.
Under Mao Zedong — 毛澤東 — anti-religion campaigns intensified.
Zao Jun's effigy was burned not in ceremony but in ideology.
Not to send him to heaven.
To eliminate him.
He largely disappeared from mainland Chinese kitchens during this period.
He survived in Taiwan — 台灣 — Taiwan.
He survived in Southeast Asia — 東南亞 — Dongnan Ya.
He survived in overseas Chinese communities — 海外華人社區 — haiwai huaren shequ — wherever the Chinese diaspora settled.
He is still found in the kitchens of Taoist monasteries — 道觀 — Daoguan — in mainland China today.
He has returned to some rural kitchens.
He did not go away entirely.
He waited.
He is a patient god.
He has always watched from a position close to the fire.
He knows how to wait.
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On what he represents.
He represents the accountability of the private life.
He represents the idea that nothing done in the home is truly private.
Heaven sees the kitchen.
Heaven sees the argument over dinner.
Heaven sees the kindness given to a guest.
Heaven sees what the family chooses to ignore about itself.
He is not a god of war. Not a god of wealth. Not a god of heaven's thunder.
He is a god of the ordinary.
He is the god of what people do when they believe no one is watching.
He is always watching.
END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN