From the tiger totem among the minority races and the religion of four deitiesall around the country to the malefic of Taoism, the religion of Tiger in China shows us very diverse complexions. It can be classified into two opposite directions. The one is the type of worship and the other is the type of expulsion. Tiger was a totem of Qiang tribe, also was in Ba tribe in south west region of China. Tiger was the god of a mountain in the region where the tigers exist. sometimes it was regarded as a helper of agriculture and was serviced in the retual of "Zha". In these diverse worship of tiger becomes a nationwide worship as a tutelary deity with dragon, turtle and peacock of four deities. People gave it more roles as a spirit of the door by deification. I found that sometimes the object of worship was down to expulsion by the politic reason aalong the long history. The negative image of tiger in some regions or tribes was mystified and became the most serious malefic in Taoism. From the view of the cultural history, these two types of Tiger religion was driven by the fear on tiger, but it was also due to the collision between the tribes or cultures. When one culture makes the conquest of the other culture, totally different idea on tiger was built and coexisted. When the beliefs accepted by the central culture, it is already not a worship based on real belief, but an abstract and nationwide belief. So usually the tiger worship of mountain god or totem was come down as a live tradition with ritual, while the other expulsion type was come down as a well trained performance.

From the tiger totem among the minority races and the religion of four deitiesall around the country to the malefic of Taoism, the religion of Tiger in China shows us very diverse complexions. It can be classified into two opposite directions. The one is the type of worship and the other is the type of expulsion. Tiger was a totem of Qiang tribe, also was in Ba tribe in south west region of China. Tiger was the god of a mountain in the region where the tigers exist. sometimes it was regarded as a helper of agriculture and was serviced in the retual of "Zha". In these diverse worship of tiger becomes a nationwide worship as a tutelary deity with dragon, turtle and peacock of four deities. People gave it more roles as a spirit of the door by deification. I found that sometimes the object of worship was down to expulsion by the politic reason aalong the long history. The negative image of tiger in some regions or tribes was mystified and became the most serious malefic in Taoism. From the view of the cultural history, these two types of Tiger religion was driven by the fear on tiger, but it was also due to the collision between the tribes or cultures. When one culture makes the conquest of the other culture, totally different idea on tiger was built and coexisted. When the beliefs accepted by the central culture, it is already not a worship based on real belief, but an abstract and nationwide belief. So usually the tiger worship of mountain god or totem was come down as a live tradition with ritual, while the other expulsion type was come down as a well trained performance.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Tiger, Chinese folk belief on tiger, Tiger totem of Qiang tribe, White tiger totem of Linjun-Ba tribe, Folk belief on tiger as a mountain god, Tiger ritual in Zha-ji, Four spiritual animal and 28 constellations, Deified tiger and exorcism, Folk belief on tiger as a god of gate, Extermination of white tiger by Bandun-Ba tribe, Whte tiger as a calamity in Taoism, Chinese folk belief and ritual on tiger.