Fan Li Hua aka Marshal Fan (樊梨花), a Lady Marshal that assist her husband Xue Ding Shan (薛丁山) in defeating the invaders of China in Tang Dynasty.
According to myths, Fan Li Hua was born in Tang Dynasty, Emperor Tai Zong Period (Zhen Guan Period 生于唐朝貞觀年間). Hometown in Xi Liang Kingdom (West of Turkey 西涼國, 現今稱之為突厥), father Fan Hong (樊洪), the Commander of Han Jiang Area (寒江關總兵) and both her Brothers Han Long (樊龍) & Han Hu (樊虎) were the assistants of Fan Hong.
Since young, Fan Li Hua was closely connected with Spiritual Skills, at the age of about 10, she went to Mt Li Shan to seek Mastership under Li Shan Lao Mu (黎山老姆). After 8 years of training, Fan Li Hua mastered most of the Spiritual Skills from Li Shan Lao Mu.
Before Fan Li Hua returned to her hometown, Li Shan Lao Mu passed to her a few Spiritual Weapons, they were Spiritual Beans (神兵仙豆 to transform into uncountable quantities of Spiritual Armies), Zhu Xian Sword (誅仙劍 a Spiritual Sword to defeat any form of Entities), Da Shen Bian (打神鞭 a Spiritual Whip), Hun Tian Chessboard (混天棋盤 to transform into Formation for Wars), Manifestation Talismans & Kun Xian Suo (捆仙索 a Spiritual Rope) and also a verse saying that she would be married to a General of White Robe (白袍將), etc.
Upon returning to her hometown, Fan Li Hua realized that Han Jiang Area was involved in a battling with the Tang Empire Troops –the leading Marshal was Xue Ding Shan.
After knowing that Xue Ding Shan was the predestinated future-husband of her’s, Fan Li Hua tried to lead Xue Ding Shan to a deserted area to tell him the truth. By using some battling strategies, Fan Li Hua succeeded in getting Xue Ding Shan to follow her. After they stopped down, Fan Li Hua explained to Xue Ding Shan about their affinity, but for the 1st 2 times, Xue Ding Shan rejected Fan Li Hua’s request. Only on the 3rd time, Xue Ding Shan started to believe and willingly to marry Fan Li Hua.
Soon after Fan Li Hua married into the Xue Family, she persuaded her father and brothers to surrender and take refuge under the Tang Empire. After consideration, her family agreed, but just before the family came to China, her father and brothers were being killed by Yang Fan (楊藩).
Upon knowing the news, Fan Li Hua was angry and disappointed, but due to her status, Fan Li Hua had to put the though of taking revenge aside and continue assist her husband to fight against the invaders.
After many years of battling, Tang Empire finally defeated Xi Liang Kingdom. During the final battling with Xi Liang Kingdom, Yang Fan was killed by Fan Li Hua and the soul of Yang Fan took revenge by transforming himself into the child of the Xue Family, which later known as Xue Gang (薛剛).
After Xue Gang grow-up, one year, Xue Gang was being accused of killing the Crown Prince and the whole Xue Family was being sentenced to death.
On the day of the execution, Li Shan Lao Mu appeared in the Mortal World to bring Fan Li Hua back to the Heavenly World. From then, Fan Li Hua was not being seen till today.
For High Res Pictures, please proceed to this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taoism_deity_singapore_2007/photos/album/1841818490/pic/list
Ah.. according to tradition.... Xue Ding Shan, in his anxiety to escape Fan Li Fah, actually swore a deadly oath, that all his family would be killed... and then he broke his oath with Fan... and then of course, it kind of came back to haunt him, in the form of Xue Gang... kekeke... see, don't swear un-necessarily... :-)
ReplyDeleteThe story seems so interesting. Yeahz, may i know that is Li San Lao Mu considered as 先天大神 in Taoism?
ReplyDeleteCant say so, cos she's only exist after the World is being formed.
ReplyDeleteICIC,So in Taiwan i heard there is a system called 五母系-瑶池王母，斗母，九天玄母，黎山老母 and 虚空地母。So, there are all 先天元君？
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thank you so much for that.
This Wu Mu Xi is not Taoism, this was being created when a new Religion being found in abt 100-120 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIn Taoism, we dont accept this.
Han Long (樊龍) & Han Hu (樊虎)
ReplyDeleteor is it Fan Long & Fan Hu?
Hahahaha, Fan in Chinese, Hokkien as Han...
ReplyDeletein which countries does ppl worship her and y ppl worship her for
ReplyDeleteIn Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore.
ReplyDeleteDue to the skills that Fan Li Hua had, a lot of ppl tend to pay respect to her for enhancing of one's Spiritual Will & Power.
icic, thank you very much.
ReplyDeletedo u know any where in spore got her kim sin .
ReplyDeleteWelcome welcome.
ReplyDeleteGot, next time bring you there.
ReplyDeleteok thanks
ReplyDeleteWelcome.
ReplyDeletesifu no bao hao??
ReplyDeleteThis Statue is an exact copy of my Bai Ma Jiang Jun (baimazunwang) Statue. Only the headdress is different.
ReplyDeleteNo, Fan Li Hua is not a Deity from the Main Stream and no special Ritual/Ceremony is being conduct for her, so no Bao Gao.
ReplyDeleteShi Fu,....when you say Fan Li Hua is not from the Main Stream...can explain a bit more...Since she is also a Deity that people pay respect...pls assist.........sp
ReplyDeleteFan Li Hua is a Deity that the folks or the Chinese pay respect to due to her braveness, loyalty, etc.... People honour her not because she was being officially bestowed by Heaven or San Qing, etc.
ReplyDeletethen what about Xue Gang,does ppl pray to them and whether is he bestowed by heaven.pls advise
ReplyDeleteNo, all such Jia Jiang are never being bestowed with Official Title, neither they are being given the Authorities to do inspection in the Three Realms, but alot of Sintuas in Singapore or Malaysia have been giving the titles to the Deities by themselves, which is forcing the Deities to get well-known.
ReplyDeleteTo know whether a Deity is being official bestowed, this will need to track back to the Ancestor Temples in China. Most of the Deities that I mentioned in my web, there are at least one temple or altar dedicated to them in China.
Shi Fu....what is Jia Jiang??? pls help in explaining....what you have mentioned is really true...temples in this region...."market" their Deities really well....head gear, body gear, advertisement, queue for collections of wealth gifts w/ 4-D so forth....someone will strike from 0000 to 9999...hahahahah..
ReplyDeleteJia Jiang as 家將, different eras, there will be a few Jia Jiang groups to assist the Empire, such as Yang Jia Jiang, Hu Yan Jia Jiang, Luo Jia Jiang, Xue Jia Jiang - where Li Hua & Xue Gang belongs too.
ReplyDeleteI dun know what you mean by forcing the deities to get well known.He must be somebody that contributed to the country then ppl honour them and start to pay respect to them etc like guan yu.so i think Xue gang also one of them.correctr me and advise if i am wrong.
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha, this is Mortal Action, no need to pay too much attention to that.
ReplyDeleteNow, in our Folks Culture, whatever have been done, let them be ba.. cos the Deities themselves will know who are the Upright one and who are the Un-orthodox one.
Once the Deities know who are the Un-orthodox one, many un-solvable issues will happened in the Sintua or Temple which force ppl to leave or Statues to get burnt, etc......
Yup, they are honouring Xue Gang for more than 50 years but nothing much had happened in the Temple and so, good la :P
ReplyDeleteoh ic,then i think better not go n pray.because it is not deities,pray adreadly also not use.
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha, this is called Ancestor Honouring, not Deity Honouring.
ReplyDeleteThis is our Taoism Practice and Religious Taoism started from Ancestor Honouring.
This is the basic of Taoism Teaching,
One can seen her statue at havelock road tee gong beo. She sat infront of tai yang gong
ReplyDeleteIn SIngapore, another Temple that dedicated statue to her is located at West Coast - Wu Tai Shan Temple.
ReplyDeleteNew pics added (Fanlihua_new09072010_00.jpg - Fanlihua_new09072010_08.jpg)
ReplyDelete