Luo Shengzong
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Luo Shengzong, Male, Han, from Macao, China, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Folk Beliefs and Customs (Ⅹ-85). The tradition is documented in Macao, China. Within the regional tradition and school record of Folk Beliefs and Customs in Macao, China: The Earth God beliefs are widely practiced in Macau. After the mid-Ming dynasty, as commerce between China and foreign countries expanded, many people gradually settled in Macau, most of them coming from the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong and Fujian, among other places. Owing to homesickness, the need to make a living, and other factors, the image of the Earth God, who guards the land and keeps the people at peace and which lay hidden in their hearts, came to Macau along with them, taking root and continuing to be passed down. The Macau Earth God beliefs have been passed down from generation to generation to the present day and have evolved into customs and habits indispensable to people's daily life; ordinary families, fishermen, martial arts practitioners, and merchants all worship the Earth God in normal times, with still grander ceremonies on the birthday of the Earth God.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Luo Shengzong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Folk Beliefs and Customs in Macao, China. Within the documented technical tradition of Folk Beliefs and Customs in Macao, China: The Chinese nation's worship of the land is of long standing; land worship in primitive society was an important component of the nature worship of primitive religion. To give thanks for the land's merit in giving birth to and nurturing all things, people piled up earth to form a she altar and worshiped it; this is the she deity, a term already seen as early as the Zhou dynasty. As the times changed, the she deity gradually became a minor local deity worshiped by resident communities, called the shegong (Lord of the Community), gradually acquiring the function of a guardian of the local area, serving to gather the lineages of villages and neighborhoods, guard the land and keep the people at peace, and protect the safety of the land and waters. The Earth God is also known as the God of Merit and Virtue or the Righteous God of Merit and Virtue; one account holds that in the Zhou dynasty there was a tax official named Zhang Fude, who was honest and upright in office and diligent in governing and caring for the people; after his death the people missed him and built a temple to worship him, taking his name as his title - hence the 'God of Merit and Virtue.' The Macau Earth God beliefs are practiced mainly through the people's daily sacrifices and the celebration of the birthday of the Earth God; the specific sites of worship are Earth God altars scattered through streets and lanes and inside and outside homes, as well as larger Earth God temples (Fude shrines). In daily life, adding incense and worshiping the Earth God is the main form of sacrifice; the altars and temples scattered across the land can be said to have thriving incense offerings. The birthday of the Earth God on the second day of the second lunar month is the key expression of the Earth God beliefs, including offering incense and worship and holding birthday celebration ceremonies; martial arts halls taking turns to perform the lion dance and presenting red envelopes for the birthday; arranging shengong opera to be performed during the birthday; distributing gifts to the elderly and neighborhood members; and holding banquets honoring the elderly. For hundreds of years, whether Earth God temples or Fude shrines, the incense has burned unceasingly in the streets and lanes of Macau, and the birthday celebration activities have continued year after year - this is precisely the important characteristic of the Macau Earth God beliefs. The people living in Macau express their gratitude to the land and their wish for harmony between humanity and nature by worshiping the Earth God. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Daily incense offerings at home and in the lanes": Earth shrines in the lanes and in courtyards are where the daily offering of incense takes place, with burning joss all year round. "Celebrating the earth god's birthday": The earth god's birthday combines incense rites, lion dances with red packets, opera offerings, gift distributions and a feast for the elderly. "The management board of the Zulim Garden shrine": A management board runs the Zulim Garden earth shrine and organises the birthday rites, a typical form of organisation in Macau. "From earth shrine toFuDeZhengShen": The earth god developed from the Zhou-era soil shrine into the village guardian known as Dukgong or Fude Zhengshen, charged with gathering the community and keeping the land safe.
Eating longevity rice on the seventh
On the seventh evening the whole trade eats longevity rice together in the market, each stall providing a share that is partly kept for the next day.
Dancing the wooden dragon on the altar
At the start of the feast a small wooden dragon is danced on the dining altar while guests eat, each household offering a bowl of wine first.
The drunken dragon procession on the eighth
Drunken dragons and lions parade together; dancers are plied with wine before performing so that they dance in a stupor.
The guild's coordination of the festival
The whole trade participates under the guild's past and present committees, each stall contributing labour and money by turn.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Luo Shengzong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Folk Beliefs and Customs, with Macao, China as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Folk Beliefs and Customs in Macao, China: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Macao, China as its declared area, and Macao Quezaiyuanfudecitudimiaozhili Association as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
The origins of Macau's Drunken Dragon dance can be traced back to the wooden-dragon dance for expelling epidemics in Xiangshan County. The Bathing-the-Buddha Day ceremonies recorded in the local gazetteers of the Xiangshan area share the same seasonal sequence as the practices of the Macau fish trade around the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, indicating that this dance form first circulated in the towns and villages of the Pearl River estuary before entering Macau with the migration of the fishing population. The wooden dragon used in the street dance is of the same design as the small wooden dragon enshrined on the incense tables of restaurants, differing only in size and painted decoration according to the financial means of the guild; the craft of making them has always remained within the fish trade, passed down jointly by old artisans and the dancers.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wu Jishan | Shenyang, Liaoning | 05-3019 | Other regional school |
| Xu Shunwei | Wenzhoushilongwan, Zhejiang | 05-3020 | Other regional school |
| Huang Guanghui | Gutian, Fujian | 05-3021 | Other regional school |
| Chen Jikun | Qinzhou, Guangxi | 05-3022 | Other regional school |
| Sinapinchu | Deqin, Yunnan | 05-3023 | Other regional school |
| Liu Shimei | Xichou, Yunnan | 05-3024 | Other regional school |
| Zhang Qingming | Tongxin, Ningxia | 05-3025 | Other regional school |
| Zheng Quanguang | Macao, China | 05-3026 | Same declared area |
| Ye Da | Macao, China | 05-3027 | Same declared area |
| Li Yaohui | Hong Kong, China | — | Other regional school |
| Luo Shengzong | Macao, China | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。