Maritime China, sea temples, and contested heritage in the Indian Ocean

ABSTRACT

This article examines the complex interplay between heritage, cultural identity, and state power, as exemplified by the contested heritage discourse surrounding a sea temple and the Chinese cult of Guandi in Mauritius. The main temple of Guandi in Mauritius abound in aquatic and oceanic manifestations, which stand in sharp contrast with state-endorsed, land-based Guandi temples in China. This contrast suggests a distinct cultural identity of the Chinese society in the Southwest Indian Ocean region. As reflected in the narratives of both Mauritian and Chinese authorities, the temple and cult also figure prominently in the re-imagining of Mauritian nation building and China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Drawing on critical heritage studies and the revitalised academic focus on sea temples that revisits the overlooked maritime connectivity, this article demonstrates how a historically-forged transoceanic identity in the name of Guandi is being contested by the new processes of heritagisation initiated by the Mauritian and Chinese states and how appreciation of the maritime heritage of Chinese diaspora in the Indian Ocean can re-emerge when the interpretation of the cult shifts from its role as one component of Mauritian and Chinese national heritage to its unorthodox oceanic reinvention.

KEYWORDS:

• Guandi
• Mauritius
• transoceanic identity
• sea temples
• maritime heritage

Introduction

This article sheds light on the presence of a sea temple in Mauritius (and neighbouring Indian Ocean islands – Madagascar, Réunion, and the Seychelles) that venerates Guandi, a Chinese deity, its transoceanic heritage originating from China’s subaltern Southeast coast, and its recent reclamation by both the Mauritian and Chinese states for explicit political and economic purposes. It reflects on the complex interplay between heritage, cultural identity, and state power, as exemplified by the contested heritage discourses surrounding the cult of Guandi in Mauritius.

Guandi has been regarded as the God of War in ancient China, who offered spiritual protection for early Chinese migrants during their transoceanic journey towards the Indian Ocean. The main temple in Mauritius abound in aquatic and oceanic manifestations, which stand in sharp contrast with state-endorsed, land-based Guandi temples in China. As reflected in the narratives of both Mauritian and Chinese authorities, the temple and the cult also figure prominently in the re-imagining of Mauritian nation building and China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative. These contested imaginations and discourses of the cult are shaped not just by the dynamics of Sino-Mauritian relations, but also by the oceanic exchanges between diverse subaltern Chinese communities from the South China Sea to the Southwest Indian Ocean, suggesting a distinct identity that has deep connection with their cultural origins from a Maritime China.

To fully comprehend the implications of these discourses and highlight the underlying oceanic heritage of the Chinese diaspora in Mauritius and in the wider region, I propose a focus on the emerging literature on sea temples against the background of the cult of Guandi in Mauritius, the history of the Mauritian Chinese society, and China’s engagement with the island nation. Subsequently, I discuss Guandi’s perceived divinity among the Indian Ocean Chinese communities and its prominent aquatic and oceanic features, which contrast with his conventional images. I situate the Guandi temples in the Indian Ocean, exemplified by the Kwan Tee Pagoda in Mauritius, in the broader context of sea temples both within and beyond the region. Sea temples and their networks have helped preserve the maritime history of marginalised coastal communities that would otherwise have been overshadowed by China’s land-centred historical tradition. They help link the history of the Chinese diaspora in the southwestern corner of the Indian Ocean with larger migration endeavours from littoral South China to Southeast Asia and further into global oceans in the colonial world system. Consequently, the heritage of the cult of Guandi can be seen as more reflective of the connectivity and mobility between diverse overseas Chinese cultures, rather than its authorised use in nation-building and state power projection.

My first encounter with the worship of Guandi by overseas Chinese occurred in several port cities in Australia, where he was typically revered on a separate secondary altar, along with other sea gods and goddesses, in the pantheon of worship. However, my four-month-long ethnographic studies between 2022 and 2023 on the mobility of Chinese fishers in Madagascar brought my attention again to Guandi. It was during this time that I observed the veneration of Guandi as the central deity by the Malagasy Chinese community in two major ports, different from those in Australia. During a brief visit to Mauritius, I noticed that the worship of Guandi was even more prevalent and widespread, suggesting a possible link with the practices in Madagascar. While my interaction with the keeper of Kwan Tee Pagoda in Mauritius was limited to an informal conversation centring around the maritime elements present in the temple, I obtained supplementary, comparative data from my visit to another two clan-based Guandi temples in the vicinity of Port Louis’ Chinatown. I returned later to Madagascar and obtained structured data through interviews with senior members of the Malagasy Chinese community, the keeper’s family of the Guandi temple in the port of Tamatave, and individuals who identified as believers of Guandi and had regular business relations between Madagascar and Mauritius. In addition to primary data, I gathered secondary data from literature on the Guandi temples in Réunion and the Seychelles, all of which claimed a relationship with the main Kwan Tee Pagoda in Mauritius. I also consulted literature published in China that discussed the phenomenon of Guandi being worshipped by fishers, highlighting unique features observed in certain coastal Guandi temples. Additionally, I accessed documentaries produced in Hong Kong in the 1990s, which preserved older imagery of the temples on the Indian Ocean islands and featured commentaries from the previous generation of worshippers. Through the collection and analysis of this diverse range of data, I aim to initiate a comparative study on the maritime Guandi heritage. This study combines first-hand and archival data from various locations, periods, and languages (including dialects) along the maritime corridor from the South China Sea to the Southwest Indian Ocean.

Multifarious temples by the sea

Temples and similar religious institutions have been central gathering places for immigrants, providing a space for worship, cultural exchange, social support, and the maintenance of cultural and religious identities (Reddy and Zavos 2009; Trouillet 2012). Overseas Chinese temples were equally vital multifunctional institutions for early immigrants, serving not only as places of worship but also as refuges, hostels, clinics, and meeting places. These immigrants faced formidable challenges, including physical hardship, cultural prejudice, the threat of violence, and homesickness. Amidst these struggles, the temples stood as central institutions in an exile’s life. They were beacons of ethnic pride and cultural identity, crucial in the psychological survival of these communities (Ho and Bronson 2022).

Following a maritime turn in critical heritage studies, sea temples, or in Ray’s (2020) term ‘coastal shrines’, are attracting increased attention for their roles in facilitating transnational maritime networks and preserving diasporic heritage. Ray convincingly argues that coastal shrines in South and Southeast Asia serve as tangible evidence of a shared heritage among these regions. This perspective places a strong emphasis on the significance of maritime networks and seafaring communities, highlighting their crucial role in shaping coastal cultural, religious, and commercial activities. The range of these networked communities at sea include but are not limited to ‘fishermen and sailors, traders, craft persons, religious clergy, and ruling groups’ (48).

In a similar vein, Sinologist scholars are now delving into the under-appreciated Chinese heritage along China’s historical maritime migratory routes. Notably, Sen’s (2019) research sheds light on the intimate maritime connections between two Chinese temples in Malaysia and India and their origins in Guangdong Province, China. Additionally, Chia (2020) and Dean (2022) have explored the maritime networks surrounding the South China Sea region, specifically focusing on travelling Buddhist monks and temples that venerate local Chinese deities. Taking a broader perspective on the diverse forms of Chinese beliefs and temples, Byrne (2021) investigates a heritage corridor spanning from South China to Australia. This corridor is facilitated by the connection between migrants and their ancestral worship places and practices. These scholarly works have advanced the understanding of the complex maritime connections and religious heritage of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia and beyond by highlighting their South China origin, subalternity, localised beliefs, and adaptability to various overseas environments.

What features in these studies is the common South China origin, where local beliefs and deities adapted to the distinct coastal environments and lifestyles have played a pivotal role in shaping the function of sea temples, contrasting with the traditional understanding of religious institutions in China. As highlighted by Clark (2018), the Southern Chinese revered protector deities, deeply connected to specific locations, in contrast to China’s national pantheon, which was more function-oriented than place-specific. That is, local deities are often viewed as personifications of their environment and culture, embodying the spirit of specific places. On the other hand, state-led heritage initiatives, aimed at boosting tourism and national identity, can sometimes overshadow or misrepresent these local traditions (Mayer and Pawlik 2023).

This article therefore seeks to build on the distinctions and contestations between these two diverse forms of divinity and heritage-making. The differentiation allows for the transcendence of the interpretational focus of China’s maritime heritage beyond artificial demarcation of nation-states and space-time, which do not reflect actual geo-environment and cultural boundaries, and brings back the recognition of wider maritime networks and transnational heritage and promotion of multi-layered and inclusive narratives of maritime cultural identities (Ray 2020). In the case of Mauritius and its neighbouring islands, the distinct maritime heritage centring around the cult of Guandi contributes to a cultural identity which I refer to as a transoceanic identity. This cultural identity, along with its shared transoceanic diasporic heritage among the Chinese communities on these islands, can be traced back to the early 1800s and continues to bind these communities together to this day, which all began from the establishment of the oldest Guandi temple at Mauritius’ seaside.

Kwan Tee (Guandi) Pagoda in Mauritius

On the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius where ethnic Chinese account for roughly three percent of the population (Kasenally 2022), at least eight temples and shrines are dedicated to Guandi, and the cult of Guandi is observed in parallel by neighbouring Chinese communities in Madagascar, Réunion, and the Seychelles. Among them, the Kwan Tee Pagoda situated on the western outskirts of Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius, is considered the oldest and largest. In 2016, the Mauritian government designated the pagoda as a national heritage site, alongside religious and monumental premises of South Asian and European origins. The inclusion of the pagoda formed part of a larger cultural heritage tourism project in Port Louis, which aimed to explore and rehabilitate the rich value of the island nation’s multiethnic and multifaith legacy (Soper 2007).

During my visit to the Pagoda in August 2022, initially expecting it to be just another ‘joss house’ – a term early Portuguese used for overseas Chinese temples – I was intrigued by a surprising array of elements within the premise (Figures 1 and 2). The site features a bright red 180-year-old building housing ancient statues and artefacts; straight coconut trees instead of traditional solemn pines; exotic giant tortoises from the nearby island of Rodrigues symbolising longevity; stone lions sponsored by the Department of Overseas Chinese of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China; white-blue ceramic offerings inscribed with messages of gratitude in French, reminiscent of those typically found on a Catholic altar; names of pilgrims ranging from Mauritian Chinese and South Asians to Quebecois; and most surprisingly, donations from a Taiwanese fishery company displayed on the most sacred central altar of Guandi. The company did not offer any donation to Mazu, a Chinese sea goddess, or Guanyin (Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara), a Buddhist sea protector, despite both of their shrines being present alongside Guandi’s.

Figure 1. Kwan Tee Pagoda, Mauritius (Photo by author).

Figure 2. The main hall of Kwan Tee Pagoda (Photo by author).

The Kwan Tee Pagoda’s cultural multiplicity can be hardly found in any other Chinese temple. It seems therefore that authorities in Mauritius, represented by the National Heritage Fund, are not the only actors attempting to capitalise on the multifaceted Guandi belief by imposing a national heritage claim over a list of related legacies, which aims to forge a common identity and reinforce nation-building (Smith 2006). The Chinese counterpart has expressed equivalent interest in incorporating the pagoda and the cult as a symbol of Sino-Mauritian friendship into the broader discourse of its Maritime Silk Road Initiative, which seeks to rationalise Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean region.

In December 2022, the pagoda celebrated its 180th anniversary, attended by the Chinese ambassador, H.E.M. Zhu Liying. His speech emphasised the patriotism of the Mauritian Chinese society towards China, and suggested that, as a national heritage site, the pagoda could contribute as a solid ‘brick’ to the great renaissance of Chinese civilisation and the building of a community of common destiny – a term the Chinese government uses frequently in recent years to promote a Chinese vision of the future of international relations (Zhu and Huang 2022). At the event, prominent Guandi temples back in China delivered their endorsement to the pagoda and the Mauritian Jinfei Free Trade and Industrial Zone, a recent flagship project under the aegis of Sino-Mauritian cooperation, called for a joint effort with the pagoda to further support the globalisation of the cult.

While the Mauritian heritage discourse works towards a ‘homogeneous account of the past’ (Boswell 2005, 283) and a constructed Mauritianness that assimilates the Chinese culture as well, the Chinese state exerts a more explicit symbolic, geocultural power (Winter 2021) over the cult that advances a single narrative of Chineseness, potentially disregarding ‘a diversity of sub-national cultural and social experiences’ (Smith 2006, 30). As exhibited in the Kwan Tee Pagoda, these sub-national identities can encompass Mauritian Chinese and its minor subsidiary of Rodriguans, Mauritians of Indian background, Taiwanese, and even those who have emigrated further from the island. Furthermore, a closer look into the temple’s history unveils a more complex narrative of early migrants from South China and their struggle to settle on the island. The clear connection between the cult and a subaltern Chinese history thus prompts questions about the nature of heritage being preserved at this Mauritian national heritage site. It also raises questions about the implications for Sino-Mauritian relations and the marginalised voices of overseas Chinese communities.

In light of the Mauritian and Chinese discourses that capture and simplify ‘wider cultural, religious, social, economic and political processes’ (Salemink 2021, 424), I initiate in this article a dialogue with the temple’s unique religious practice and material culture circulated and ‘translocalised’ in comparable natural settings from the historically marginalised littoral South China to the tropical island (Byrne 2021, 72). Thus, I place emphasis on the transoceanic history of the temple’s foundation and provides a retrospective analysis of Guandi’s nonconformist oceanic divinity, contrasting it with the prevailing perception of his symbolising loyalty to the terrestrial state. In other words, I propose a deconstruction of accustomed values embodied in overseas Chinese heritage and engage with a critical understanding of the power and authority that buttress national heritage discourses, bringing to light silenced and forgotten heritage narratives that are deeply connected with non-state-centred historiography. This begins with a re-evaluation of South China’s maritime history that laid the foundation of the Mauritian Chinese society and a re-examination of the materiality of the Kwan Tee Pagoda and Guandi’s divinity based on their aquatic and oceanic propensities, which have been largely overlooked by the mainstream heritage regime. This approach therefore has the potential to emancipate and empower maritime heritage that remains fragmented within national boundaries (Ray 2020, 7).

Historical context of the Mauritian Chinese society

The earliest presence of Chinese labour in Mauritius can be dated back to the eighteenth century. In the following century, successive waves of free traders from China’s southern coastal provinces arrived in Mauritius (Carter and Ng Foong Kwong 2009). It was this period of immigration that has laid the demographical foundation for today’s Mauritian Chinese society. Though small, the traditional Chinese population has been an economic backbone for Mauritius. Their contribution to the country varies from trading of essential goods and banking service to the establishment of an Export Processing Zone that once accounted for up ten percent of GDP (Kasenally 2022). The Chinese New Year had been long declared as a public holiday in Mauritius since 1960s, and the twenty-five Mauritian rupee note features Sir Jean Etienne Moilin Ah-Chuen, a Sino-Mauritian business tycoon and statesperson.

A notable characteristic of the traditional Chinese population in Mauritius and the broader Indian Ocean region is the internal conflict and negotiation among migrants of distinct sub-national identities. Local oral history narrates that the Fujianese (Hokkienese) and Cantonese were the first free migrants from China, arriving after the era of indentured Chinese labour for sugar plantations ended in the mid-nineteenth century. The establishment of the Kwan Tee Pagoda was a collaborative effort between these two sub-ethnic Chinese groups, and both group leaders inaugurated the temple in 1842, amid the First Opium War unfolding along their home coasts.

A significant influx of Hakka labour migrants to Mauritius occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Guccini and Zhang 2021). The Kwan Tee Pagoda emerged as the focal point for the communal life of the three sub-ethnic Chinese groups, evidenced by the stelae preserved within the temple to this day. During that period, a significant number of religious artefacts and written endorsements from China were imported to Mauritius. Among these items was the central statue of Guandi, which was shipped directly from the Dongshan Guandi Temple in Fujian, the home of one of the sub-ethnic groups. The connection to Fujian is particularly consequential, as the Dongshan Guandi Temple had served as a symbolic centre for the anti-Qing movement organised by marginalised islanders along China’s southeast coast for centuries, and it was from these marginalised communities that the early Chinese migrants in Mauritius originated. The Dongshan Temple holds additional significance as a seed temple for numerous Guandi temples in Taiwan and Southeast Asia via maritime trade connections. This unique lineage rendered the temple in Mauritius particularly appealing to travellers from other Chinese societies around the South China Sea.

The substantial influx of Hakka people, however, heightened tensions over resources with the Fujianese and Cantonese (Ly-Tio-Fane Pineo 1981). The temple itself was a witness of violent conflict between Cantonese and Hakka in Mauritius in 1903 over the presidency of its administering society (Carter and Ng Foong Kwong 2009, 165; Ly-Tio-Fane Pineo 1998, 354). This ultimately resulted in the dominance of Hakka identity in Mauritius and the exodus of other groups to Madagascar, Réunion, and the Seychelles. Consequently, the worship of Guandi on the island shifted from a collective practice to a sub-ethnic matter among Hakka clans and the remaining competitors. Smaller temples and shrines were constructed throughout the Chinatown in Port Louis to serve more intimate prayers, such as promoting familial unity and prosperity. On the other hand, those who had re-migrated to neighbouring African colonies also erected Guandi temples reflecting their respective clan identities, meanwhile the oldest Kwan Tee Pagoda has endured as a commemoration of forebears’ early maritime adventures and primarily served as a venue for grand communal celebrations on important holidays.

The restructured Mauritian Chinese society has maintained close ties with their distant relatives in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and certain Southeast Asian countries. Leveraging their transoceanic connections, the Mauritian Chinese demonstrated significant contributions to the island’s economy throughout the colonial era and into the post-independence period. Mauritius established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1972, and since then China has been giving aid to Mauritius. Aid projects that aimed to promote the Chinese culture include a Chinese culture centre in 1988 (Ancharaz 2009), followed by a Confucius Institute in 2016. Foshan City in Guangdong, the place of origin for many Mauritian Chinese, has maintained a sister city relationship with Port Louis since the 1980s.

Economically, in addition to the long-term contribution of Mauritian Chinese of older generations who were able to attract investment from richer Chinese societies, especially Hong Kong, Mauritius entered into a free trade agreement with China in 2019, the first of its kind in Africa. Due to the island’s strategic position in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius has reaped substantial benefits from the increased China-Africa cooperation over the past two decades. This state-level collaboration has led to numerous large-scale infrastructure projects financed by China, including the Côte d’Or National Sports Complex and a new terminal at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam international airport. Additionally, Mauritius serves as the financial and technological headquarter for many Chinese multinational companies investing in Africa. Among them, the aforementioned Jinfei Zone¹ has been developed by a state-owned enterprise from China’s Shanxi province at the seaside of Baie du Tombeau, one of the largest investment projects from China in recent years.

The Mauritian government recognises the significance of China’s rise for the country. Since 2005, in addition to the public holiday for Chinese New Year, Mauritius has further permitted celebratory events such as ancestor ceremonies at the Kwan Tee Pagoda, public dragon and lion marches in Chinatown, and the Lantern Festival (Prime Minister’s Office 2005). In Chinatown, authorities have allowed the creation of vibrant murals, which often depict contemporary Sino-Mauritian relations through peaceful imagery and iconic landmarks, such as signature animals and cultural and natural heritage sites of both countries (Figure 3). These murals also feature a mix of Chinese cultural symbols with varied political connotations, including icons of Confucius, Sun Yat-sen, and Mao Zedong, which may appear simultaneously.

Figure 3. A mural in Port Louis’ Chinatown celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Mauritius (Photo by author).

On top of viewing Mauritius as a pivotal node in China-Africa relations, both the Mauritian and Chinese governments tend to adopt a pragmatic approach when interpreting the island’s Chinese heritage. By permitting only the public display of select memories and cultural elements (as shown in Figure 3), they aim to reinforce the discourse of a longstanding friendship between the two nations. The inclusion of the Kwan Tee Pagoda as a Mauritian national heritage site and its high-profile 180^th anniversary celebration were the most recent developments of this pragmatism. Nevertheless, the tiny Indian Ocean island maintains a shared memory of Chinese diaspora of diverse origins. The murals on streets and offerings from Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Canada at the temple serve as blunt evidence of a competing, more complex Mauritian Chinese identity that has undergone transoceanic transformation during the formation of this unique overseas society and its religious landscape. A deeper comprehension of the religiosity associated with the cult of Guandi can thus contribute to the appreciation of plural transoceanic identities of not only the Mauritian Chinese society, but also other Chinese settlements throughout the Indian Ocean region.

Indian Ocean Chinese societies are historically interconnected (Ly-Tio-Fane Pineo 1981). Collectively, they have established Guandi temples in Réunion, Madagascar, and the Seychelles (Figure 4). Among them, the Kwan Tee Pagoda draws most followers from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. While the Cantonese-Hakka split led to a decline in the cult of Guandi in Mauritius and subsequently affected activities around the pagoda (Carter and Ng Foong Kwong 2009), the belief in Guandi never completely ceased. As Wong-Hee-Kam (1996, 224) points out, the religious worship of Guandi remained as spiritually important as ancestral worship both in Mauritius and Réunion, regardless of the religious denominations the Chinese communities on these islands now adhere to. In fact, Guandi continued to be the primary belief among waves of newcomers during the early twentieth century as the worship was familiar and easily understandable to them (Deng and Zhu 2020).

Figure 4. The Guandi Altar in Tamatave, Madagascar (Photo by Author).

The significance of the cult of Guandi in the life of Chinese societies on the Indian Ocean islands can be primarily observed within their communal life. The worship of Guandi is a communal practice that involves elaborate ceremonies, rituals, and festivities, especially on Guandi’s birthday and significant Chinese holidays. One noteworthy occasion in Mauritius is the Chinese New Year, when Mauritian Chinese families gather at the pagoda. This event serves as a way to pay homage to their shared heritage and strengthen their sense of solidarity. During this time, families enjoy mass performances and a collective dinner in an atmosphere of celebration and reverence (lexpress.mu 2006).

The cult of Guandi plays an equally pivotal role in connecting intra-regional Chinese societies. Historically, outgoing Cantonese and Hakka people established two Guandi temples in Madagascar, four in Réunion, and one in the Seychelles. There are also Guandi temples that served as community centres in Mozambique and South Africa. They all recognise their connection with Mauritius and the divine lineage from Dongshan, Fujian. In 2006, the birthday of Guandi in the Chinese lunar calendar aligned with the national day of France. This prompted the Réunionese Chinese society to turn their Guandi celebration into a massive island-wide festival. To make the event even more special, invitations were extended to key individuals and institutions in the region, such as the ethnic-Hakka Mauritian Minister of Youth and Sports, the Chinese embassy in Mauritius, and the Guandi temple in Tamatave, Madagascar. The former President of the Association of Guandi Réunion shared a similar vision to establish a business partnership under the name of Guandi among the Indian Ocean islands. His vision aimed to leverage the strengths of each island: Réunion as the gateway to Europe, Mauritius as the financial hub, and Madagascar as the agricultural base (Deng and Zhu 2020).

Guandi’s aquatic divinity

Originally a historical figure and war hero named Guan Yu and born in 162 AC at the time of the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the venerated deity has since been immortalised in official annals of imperial China, folklores, and novels, often with considerable mystification. Influenced by this tradition of history writing, overseas Chinese have inherited a similar interpretation of Guandi’s persona and, as a result, his most common traits of divinity (Live and Lebreton 2012). He is first remembered as a loyal warrior, having proved himself to be a fearless fighter and a fine strategist during years of war (Figure 5). The mythical aura surrounding Guan can be likened to figures such as Shaka Zulu, medieval European knights, or the English hero Robin Hood. His toughness earned him a post-mortem reputation among subsequent dynasties. In addition to exalting him to the highest imperial title (di),² Chinese sovereigns attributed many qualities to the deity that the real Guan Yu might not have possessed: honesty, fidelity, uprightness, courage, probity, grandeur, sincerity, and so on. In the nineteenth century, the Qing Dynasty elevated Guan into the state pantheon of protectors and ordered nationwide worship and construction of temples. For those from South China, Guandi’s role extended beyond being the patron of soldiers and the god of war. He became a protector of families, a holder of justice, and a fortune-bringer for merchants.

Figure 5. The warrior Guan Yu, wall art at Guan Wang Temple, Yuncheng, Shanxi, China (SR-EL license © Beibaoke1|Dreamstime.com).

Guandi’s symbolism has been of adaptable nature, which allowed the deity to transcend cultural, geographic, and religious boundaries, as well as becoming relevant to different communities and their specific needs for guardianship (Ter Haar 2017). Water, a vital medium of trade and crucial commodity, has played a fundamental yet often overlooked role in Guandi’s deification. In fact, the enrichment of the cult is replete with implicit aquatic metaphors, and its spread across China and overseas is similarly saturated with saline elements. To begin with, Guan’s birthplace, present-day Yuncheng in Shanxi Province, was known in ancient times as China’s Dead Sea, supplying salt to the entire empire from a salt lake. Local legend has it that Guan, in his spiritual form, protected the lake from the attack of an old god, Chiyou. His reputation as the God of Salt Lake later spread nationwide (Watanabe 2011). The functionality of stabilising water and water-related activities was particularly attractive to those living near lakes and rivers. Imperial officials responsible for managing the flood-prone Yellow River and the strategically important Grand Canal built Guandi temples along the banks in hopes that he could help tame the unruly rivers (Chu 2017).

As making a living by the sea could be even more dangerous, coastal regions and seafaring professionals adopted the belief that Guandi could control the uncertainty of water through his acclaimed combat prowess. As documented by historical records in Japan, between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, Chinese merchants sailing primarily from Taiwan, Fujian, and Guangdong would transfer onboard shrines of Guandi, Mazu, and Guanyin-three deities significant to maritime trade – to reserved temples in Nagasaki (Ge and Shi 2004). Similarly, naval vessels and coastal fortresses during the Ming and Qing eras worshipped Guandi for both military purposes and maritime safety (Li 2020). This maritime tradition has been equally observed by Chinese fishers on the southeast coast of China. They consider an onboard Guandi Shrine essential, where he is honoured as the Protector of Boats (Chen 2015).

Fishers and traders venerating Guandi also display their devotion and awe through physical forms from the East China Sea to the South China Sea. For example, ancient Chinese compass maps and meteorological observations have listed storms, isles, and reefs named by fishers after the deities they worshipped, such as Guandi Islet (yu) and Guandi Storm (bao). On the coasts and islands where they docked, fishers and traders constructed Guandi Shrines specifically to cater to their seafaring life (Li 2020).

In contrast to the more famous sea cult of Mazu along China’s southeast coast, which grows out of the coexisting relationship between coastal communities and the oceanic environment they depend on (Peng 2020), Guandi’s aquatic symbolism had to be developed creatively by his believers beyond merely taming water and safeguarding travellers with his powerful force. On Tungsha Island (Pratas Island) in the South China Sea, stationed Taiwanese marines worship Guandi as the guardian of the island. A canoe carrying Guandi’s statue was found on the island in 1948, leading to its recognition as a mysterious manifestation of the sea protector (Ma 2021). The motif of a drifting sacred item on the sea, or more semiotically, resurfacing and rebirth after submersion, is common in oceanic cultures (Frazer and Fraser 2009) as an embodiment of the transformative vitality of the sea. This grants the object divine power capable of controlling the flow of life and death.

The cult of Guandi underwent a similar baptismal transformation when given the faculty of resurrection from water. The Guandi Temple on Dongshan Island, Zhangzhou, Fujian (Figure 6) is considered the seed temple by many subsidiary temples in Taiwan and overseas. The main Guandi statue in this temple transmits its spiritual agency to subsidiary statues through the ritual of dividing incense (xiang) and efficaciousness (ling). Along with Guandi’s holy spirit, the temple also houses the spirit of Lu Xiufu, who leapt into the sea with the young emperor of the Song Dynasty during the Mongolian conquest of China in 1279. Lu’s loyalty was believed to have moved the heavens, and his spirit merged in the temple, as if only Guan could shoulder such greatness (Liu 2010). Unlike Mazu, whose entire mortal life revolved around the sea, Guan’s historical persona had little connection with the ocean. By transplanting real oceanic heroism onto Guandi, the founders of the Dongshan Temple could have asserted its authority in this cult among sea travellers.

Figure 6. Dongshan Guandi Temple, Fujian, China (SR-EL license © Tsangming Chang |Dreamstime.com).

Originating from the nodal point of Dongshan, which bridges Guandi’s terrestrial past from its North China background and oceanic identity towards the south, the cult gained popularity on Taiwan Island as its first major transoceanic stop. Today, no other Sinophone territory is more enthusiastic about Guandi than Taiwan. Building upon the cult and spirituality brought across the strait from Fujian, the Taiwanese version of Guandi is rich with local epiphanic stories, particularly reports of resurfaced Guandi statues from the sea over the last 200 years (He 2013).

Figure 7. The Foundational Temple of the Warrior in Tainan. The roof decor prominently features oceanic elements (Mrmarkertw, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

In Taiwan, many present-day Guandi Temples can trace their roots to the Foundational Temple of the Warrior (kai-chi wu miao, Figure 7) in Tainan. The original location of the temple, built in 1669, was closely adjacent to the port connecting the sea route with inland rivers. Business activity gathered around the temple and accelerated the growth of an early port-city zone, which was later named Guandi Port. Similar urbanisation around Guandi temples occurred in the ports of Nagasaki and Yokohama in Japan (Wheeler 2015; Wong and Lim 2021). In this regard, the cult of Guandi reached beyond the spiritual functionality of uniting and protecting overseas communities and into the material world of stimulating coastal development.

The oceanic materiality of the cult is not manifested only in fostering maritime trade, but also deeply carved into the physical structure of temples that rewrites Guandi’s hagiography. In Guangdong and Fujian, many old Guandi temples are only metres away from the coastline on a sandy foundation, which could have been structurally unstable but religiously significant. The seed temple of the oceanic Guandi, the Dongshan Guandi Temple, is adorned with exquisite patterns of sea grass, conchs, fish, squids, lobsters, and crabs, symbolising wishes for luck, abundance, and fortune (Huang 2022). Instead of lion dancing, Dongshan’s ceremonial offering to Guandi’s birthday features lobster dancing, telling a story that the Dragon King orders sea spirits to help sharpen Guandi’s weaponry for conquering the ocean (Zheng 2021). In this case, those who migrated to the coast adapted the terrestrial cult by integrating it to the oceanic environment, highlighting the unique characteristics of being a sea temple and an ‘intrinsic numinosity of nature’ among the Chinese popular religions (Naquin and Yü 1992 cited in Byrne 2014, 126). The adaptation has been made possible by the innate inclusive character of China’s religious tradition, the topographic adaptability of the cult’s exoteric forms, and more crucially, the materially transferrable spirit that can be equally efficacious on platforms of varying scale and mobility.³

The numinosity with which both the spiritual and physical forms of the cult adapt to a new landscape, or seascape, is evident in Mauritius as well. Though now obscured by a giant sugar warehouse, a luxury beach hotel, and an avant-garde oceanarium, the Kwan Tee Pagoda was once sited next to the original coastline of Port Louis’ marina bay before a major portion of the bay in front of it was reclaimed (Figures 8 and 10). The uninhabited seaside saline-alkali land, still called by the area’s remaining French name Les Salines or what the Mauritian Chinese call hoi sun (the sea lip), was bought by the early Chinese migrants for shelters and graves.

Inscriptions on the stelae in the temple claim that its location responds to the mightiness of the mountain behind the compound (today’s Signal Mountain) and the profundity of the sea and island it overlooks (Figure 9). This positioning not only fulfilled the architectural principles of fengshui⁴ but also served a practical purpose as a convenient landing point for new Chinese migrants (Lu et al. 2020). This is in contrast with the Aapravasi Ghat situated just across the bay, which served as the entry point for indentured labourers arriving on the island.

Figure 8. Looking from the Altar. The Guandi statue once gazed at the sea just outside the gate (Photo by Author).

Figure 9. Repainted Stele in Kwan Tee Pagoda (Photo by Author).

Figure 10. The location of Kwan Tee Pagoda in Port Louis (1: Kwan Tee Pagoda. 2: Heen Foh Lee Kwon Pagoda. 3: Aapravasi Ghat. 4: Chinatown. 5: government house. Dotted blue line near 1: roughly the original coastline in late 1800s, drawn by the author based on a photo taken in 1899, available at vintagemauritius.Org. Map source: OpenStreetMap).

The temple additionally provided temporary accommodation for newcomers and helped to preserve their maritime memories. The area of Les Salines, though barren, is geologically endowed with rich hydraulic exchanges between the sea and the island’s Western Aquifer System (Nowbuth, Feliciane, and Hosany 2009). The temple’s location, perched above an artesian aquifer on the very edge of the coastline, provided essential freshwater for shoreward travellers. Early Chinese community leaders were aware of this valuable water source and transformed the temple into an initial settlement site and a place for communal gathering. Carter and Ng Foong Kwong (2009) collected accounts of British visitors in the temple shortly after its opening; one visitor even attended a feast in 1842, catered by an on-site kitchen – a tradition that remains to this day. This natural spring was deified by the Mauritian Chinese as an auxiliary local deity to Guandi, given a lower-ranking altar in the main hall and honoured with the title ‘Duke of Holy Spring’. Within the main hall, alongside the central altar of Guandi, smaller altars dedicated to Mazu, Guanyin, and Dragon Kings can be spotted. These sea gods and goddesses were important for Chinese travellers and required worship and propitiation (160). A British naval visitor also reported that the temple displayed a marine painting in the main hall (158), likely depicting a common Chinese junk ship of that era.

During the formative years of the temple, many artefacts were crafted and directly imported from China, including the main altar of Guandi, which was specifically shipped from the Dongshan Guandi Temple in Fujian with the aim of relaying efficaciousness. This move, akin to the practices observed in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, aimed to assert the authenticity of this particular branch of the cult and seamlessly incorporate the oceanic spirituality of Dongshan Guandi. This authenticity elucidates the veneration of Guandi by the Taiwanese fishery company docking at Mauritius, as well as the continued offering in this ancestral temple by numerous Mauritian Chinese who have since migrated to France and Canada.

For Guandi, the extension of his aquatic divine realm from inland waters to vast oceans has been facilitated by the translocal connections of the cult’s material manifestations. Spanning 200 years and 5,000 miles, Southern Chinese migrants’ belief in Guandi and the socio-environmental foundation of the temples have fervently sustained his ongoing transformation – from North China, through coastal regions, and onto overseas destinations – as an ‘extra-canonical’ deity that protected and sheltered followers with ‘miraculous efficacy’ at sea, on shore, and during maritime trade (Byrne 2021, 84). This translocal entanglement of a maritime Guandi cult could have only been established through a network of people, cargoes, and faiths extending across the Indian Ocean, with Mauritius serving as a nodal point of interchange connecting Southeast Asia, South Asia, Africa, and Europe prior to the completion of the Suez Canal. Embracing a maritime, dynamic perspective and the material records of this sub-national Chinese heritage enriches the interpretation of Mauritius’ maritime history, particularly by unearthing the overlooked past of the subaltern seafaring predecessors of the Mauritian Chinese society.

Sea temples, maritime heritage, and competing heritage discourses

By focusing on the transnational subaltern nature of coastal shrines in connecting South and Southeast Asia, Ray (2020) encourages a ‘diverse and plural understanding of the past’ (218) as a means of emancipating heritage, in contrast to dominant historical narratives shaped by empires, dynasties, states, and colonisers, which have traditionally framed the history and memory associated with heritage. This viewpoint also underscores the significance of ‘built structures in synergy with the natural environment’, which form an integral component of the maritime space where ‘a complex web of interactions’ between the social construction of cultural heritage and an oceanic past come together (5).

Comparable transoceanic networks and temple structures are evident throughout the journeys of South China migrants to the coasts and islands of present-day Southeast Asian countries and beyond. For instance, Temples of the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) and Temples of Mazu could be found in early Chinese settlements, such as Singapore and Penang. Situating near trading docks, these temples served roles akin to the Kwan Tee Pagoda in Mauritius, providing shelter to newcomers, arranging job opportunities, and integrating them into local Chinese associations. Even the term ‘sea lip’, which the Mauritian Chinese use to describe the barren saline-alkali land, can find a parallel in Kuching, East Malaysia. There, Fujianese, Cantonese, and Hakka pioneers developed the dock area and established a Daoist temple to unify the sub-ethnic groups.

In many respects, the subaltern maritime history of the Chinese societies spread on the islands and coasts of southwestern Indian Ocean, as suggested by the material attributes of the Kwan Tee Pagoda, shares strong transnational connections with the history of those who settled in Southeast Asia. These connections remain until today through continued kinship ties and trading relationships among these societies. This unique maritime tradition and the hardships of migration, which have often been overlooked, can be best illustrated by a couplet at the Kwan Tee Pagoda that states:

The magnificent landscape locates south to the equator, where [we] witness different time of cold and hot seasons, knowing that it is not the Sea of China; [Guandi’s] loyalty reaches beyond the north celestial pole, with which [we] talk about the joyful memory of home, sojourning here as almost one family.

Nevertheless, the aquatic divinity and oceanic history of the cult are largely absent from Mauritius’ official accounts and China’s promotion of the Maritime Silk Road, which should be by definition ocean-oriented. As Smith (2006), Geismar (2015), and Salemink (2021) contend, the discursive and material construction of heritage by modern nation-states and the elite ideology they represent often occurs at the expense of marginalised and excluded cultures and identities that may be potentially in conflict with the mainstream heritage narratives. The long-arm use of Guandi’s divinity by the contemporary Chinese state therefore potentially obfuscates the historical and political divisions between the current state and long established diasporic Chinese societies and assimilates the cult into the wider discourse of Maritime Silk Road heritage and cultural diplomacy that serves China’s strategic interests in the region (Kong 2021).

Among the many state interventions, it is especially worth noting that investors of Jinfei Zone hail from China’s Shanxi province, where the historical persona of Guandi was born and where the worship of Guandi and its state-sponsored endorsement, or subscription by the state as Duara (1988) coins, have been predominant. These investors with a deep official background brought not only funds and goods to Mauritius, but also a bronze statue of Guandi riding a horse in his warrior form, safeguarding the zone and the meticulously named Silk Road paved below. Such attention from the Chinese authorities helps to rewrite the cult into a common identity of the Chinese cultural lineage, ascribes state-backed authenticity to the cult, and appropriates the image of Guandi as a patriot.

Moreover, both nationalised heritage discourse and the practice of associating memory to tangible reality tend to reduce the materiality of heritage into bounded, manageable, and separate locales and objects. This process of heritagisation in turn contributes to minimising ‘the social, cultural or historical conflicts about the meaning, value or nature of heritage’ (Smith 2006, 31). The four-metre-high, imposing, dark red statue of Guandi at the entrance of an industrial zone with extensive economic activities between China and Mauritius overshadows the century-old wooden statue carefully preserved within the pagoda. This prominence enables newcomers to seize and monopolise the interpretation of the meanings and values embedded in this cult, creating a single narrative that aligns with Beijing’s state agenda that promotes a united front under the name of global Guandi.

On the other hand, when granting the pagoda national heritage status, the Mauritian government did not provide additional funding for its renovation and preservation (Groëme-Harmon 2017). The heritagisation of religious and monumental sites in Mauritius, including the Kwan Tee Pagoda, seemed to be merely a convenient approach for bolstering the country’s image of possessing rich cultural heritage resources. This followed the nationwide jubilation resulting from the inclusion of the Aapravasi Ghat and Le Morne as UNESCO World Heritage sites. By uniting these sites under the one banner of Mauritian heritage, this process served mainly to mitigate the contested linguistic and religious landscape and the ethnic divisions deeply rooted within the society (Eriksen 2020).

Conclusion: pluralising Chineseness through maritime heritage

The Guandi cult exemplifies the transformative potential of maritime life and the foundational marine environment in reshaping what was once perceived as an unyielding, land-centred civilisation. The seemingly unbreakable, unified, and continuous nature of the Chinese culture, which is often reinforced through discourses surrounding genealogy, language, and even cuisine, is challenged by Guandi’s reinvention as a seafaring deity by marginalised communities along China’s southeast coast. These communities successfully adapted a two-millennia-old terrestrial belief system to align with their maritime and coastal livelihoods, subsequently disseminating it across various maritime frontiers during their far-reaching migratory journeys.

Overseas Chinese societies maintain horizontal, transoceanic connections through long-established kinship and trade networks under the auspices of seafaring deities, whose interpretation significantly diverges from the historical and official accounts presented by Beijing. The deterritorialisation and deterrestrialisation of Guandi within the maritime Chinese world constitute integral aspects of their heritage, demonstrating the fluidity and adaptability of their culture in the face of changing socio-environmental contexts. The transformation of the Northern China deity into a sea god, a common figure in the South, then further into the exotic Indian Ocean world, marked his integration into the maritime pantheon while retaining his traditional role as the God of War. This phenomenon exemplifies the broader dynamic of cultural intermingling and exchange between China and its maritime frontiers. The shared maritime trajectory and heritage suggest thus the possibility of theoretically constructing a distinct transoceanic Chinese identity. This identity can serve as a useful conceptual tool to transcend the limitations imposed by national borders and reconnect Chinese communities on the Indian Ocean islands with their ancestry, previously seen as geographically distant and less influential.

Reframing previously marginalised seafaring communities as sources of heritage can empower these communities and foster a more nuanced understanding of the history of Maritime China. The subaltern heritage, however, undoubtedly faces renewed interest and appropriation from state power, as evidenced by the nationalised heritage claims made by both the Mauritian and Chinese governments. Consequently, the ongoing construction of ‘maritime heritage’ has become an arena of contestation, involving disputes over allegiance, hegemony, and influence. Although religious practices exemplified by a seagoing Guandi have historically kept a temporal and spatial distance from authorities while embracing diverse ethnic and cultural categories, they now confront intensified attempts at re-territorialisation by the state through a reverse process of – in the case of the cult of Guandi – terrestrialisation that supersedes his maritimised divinity and idealisation into a harmonious being in a patriotic pantheon endorsed by the state. The contestations surrounding the cult reveal that in the process of reconstructing ‘maritime heritage’, states – whether Mauritius or China – assert claims not only on territories but also on the future. This evolving dynamic underscores the complex interplay between heritage, cultural identity, and state power.

Recognising the discursive differences and understanding how heritage has been constructed can aid in identifying the philosophical and conceptual barriers that may hinder recognising or engaging with competing or excluded forms of heritage (Smith 2006, 43). In the case of the cult of Guandi, this epistemological enlightenment destabilises a unified notion of cultural oneness, particularly in relation to the multivocality of overseas Chinese societies that ‘refutes the univocal claim of any national(ist) discourse’ (Shih, Tsai, and Bernards 2013, 187). By examining the complexity of undervalued transoceanic cultural identity as I present in this article, scholars and researchers can gain a broader perspective on the present-day Chinese diaspora and the pluralised experiences of Chinese communities oceanwide.

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend gratitude to Edyta Roszko and Tim Winter for their insightful remarks, and to the anonymous reviewers and the editorial team for their invaluable suggestions and guidance. This work has been enriched by the stimulating discussions at two key conferences: “Archipelagic Memory: Intersecting Geographies, Histories and Disciplines” at the University of Mauritius (2022) and “Oceans and Empires: Sinophone Crossroads in Global Space and Time” at Penn State University (2023). I am particularly grateful to Rafal Pankowski, Natalia Sineaeva, and Ven. Yisu of Guan Gong Temple of USA for their generous support and expertise.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme [Grant agreement No. 802223].

Notes on contributors

Xuefei Shi

Xuefei Shi is a cultural anthropologist and development researcher, and a postdoctoral researcher at CMI (Chr. Michelsen institute), Norway. He has extensive research experience in the Southwest Indian Ocean and East Africa region, especially along the multiethnic Swahili coast, the great island of Madagascar, and the Mascarene Archipelago.

Notes

1. Literally ‘Shanxi-Africa’, as the term Jin is a shorten code for the province of Shanxi in China’s administrative taxonomy.

2. As Guan ascended in the Chinese pantheon, he achieved various official rankings, including Grand General (dajiangjun), Lord of Guan (gong), and ultimately Emperor of Guan (di).

3. The intrinsic numinosity of nature refers to the spiritual or sacred quality that is inherent in nature. The term ‘numinous’ was coined by Rudolf Otto to describe the experience of encountering the divine or sacred, which is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying, inviting and overwhelming, and beyond human comprehension. See also Sarbacker (2016).

4. Literally ‘wind and water’, fengshui is an ancient Chinese philosophical and environmental practice that involves arranging the environment to create balance and harmony, with the belief that it can affect the success, health, and happiness of individuals.