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Expert: - 3/9/2010


Question

Chinese figures
Dear Terry,
  We received this gift from our Chinese friend upon having our baby daughter. We don't know what it means, what the writing below it says nor what the statues refer to.
  Can you please provide me with more details? Thank you very much.
  Razan Kilani

Answer
Hi,

I can only tell you what I've been able to find out about this -- I'm not an expert on Chinese or Taiwanese religion by any stretch. It's quite complicated! So I'm just going by the characters on the bottom of it.

The Chinese characters read San Hsing Kung Chao (Sanxing Gongzhao in Pinyin). One possibility seems to be that this comes from a particular temple in Yilan County, Taiwan, in the town of Sanhsing, the village of Kungchiao. I can't find any particular explanations about this temple or any particular god in it being associated with fertility or babies, though. I think the most likely explanation is that these are the three gods for Happiness/Good Fortune, Wealth, and Longevity, respectively. I've found a reference to this in the description for a bracelet (of all things), describing the design elements on the bracelet: 有三陽,為三星拱照,福.祿.壽. ("There are three suns, representing the Sanhsing Kungchao: good fortune, wealth and longevity.) This makes more sense as there's nothing to indicate specifically that the item comes from Taiwan (unless it's something religiously subtle that I am missing, not knowing much about the subject). I'm sure there's a similar place name in the Mainland, and likely the same set of gods.

Terry Thatcher Waltz

Expertise

I specialize in Chinese technical translation and conference interpretation, and terminology. I can answer questions about these topics, Chinese language pedagogy and learning issues, Chinese grammar for learners, and general issue related to Taiwan.

Experience

Full-time translator and conference interpreter since 1987; long-time resident of Taiwan. Qualified State Dept. language contractor (interpreter and translator) with extensive government and private sector experience.

Organizations
American Translators Association; The Translators' and Interpreters' Guild; ATA Interpreters' Division; ATA Chinese Division.

Publications
AIIC (International Association of Conference Interpreters) website

Education/Credentials
Ph.D., Chinese; MA, Conference Interpreting

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