No. 105Zhong Kui
Zhong Kui: The Demon Queller — Unisex Muscle Tank
Zhong Kui: The Demon Queller — Unisex Muscle Tank
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Studio design: drawn with AI image tools to the iconography of Chinese Folk Religion & Taoism, checked against that tradition's rules and approved by a person. Captions are set in real type, never generated. Made to order in the USA.
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The story behind the line 五福臨門 “The five blessings arrive.” It's a wish for good fortune arriving at your door. Zhong Kui, the demon-queller whose portrait is hung by Chinese doorways, is often painted with bats. Bat and blessing are both pronounced fú, so his five bats stand for the Five Blessings, flying in to the house.
五福臨門 (wǔ fú lín mén) means "the five blessings come to the door," a classic New Year wish. 福 blessing sounds just like 蝠 bat, which is why the bats are there.
Zhong Kui (鍾馗) is the fierce guardian whose portrait watches over Chinese doorways. Legend says he was a gifted scholar from Mount Zhongnan, denied honour in the examinations, who rose after death to drive harmful spirits from the world. Emperor Xuanzong dreamed of him and ordered his likeness painted. With a bristling black beard, wide eyes and a red official's robe, he keeps a sword in hand and bats of good fortune overhead. At New Year and the Dragon Boat Festival, families still hang his picture.
A Next Level 3633 cotton muscle tank, soft combed ring-spun cotton with dropped armholes, printed with the design and its line.
From The Deity Project, a living encyclopedia of the sacred.
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