土地公

[Zhende ma?]

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on what 土地公 are? I think they are some kinds of spirits associated with graves and 清明节 but I'm not sure.

[ameliasj]

Do you know 玉帝 then?

If you know that, it will be easy to explain 土地公. In Chinese, we thought heaven as a world with many deities. Obviously 玉帝 is the greatest while 土地公 is almost the lowest position. 土地公 is always an old man with white and long beard and takes charge of a certain local place. (So there's only one 玉帝 but there're several 土地公)So you can say 土地公 as a local deity.

And we usually say 土地公公， which sounds more intimate.

Here for your reference, I also quote from wikipedia.

Tu Di Gong (土地公) is a popular Chinese deity worshipped by Chinese folk religion worshippers, Taoists, and some Buddhists. A formal name for Tu Di Gong is Fudezhengshen (福德正神), meaning the earth god of wealth and merit.

In China, every village had a shrine to Tu Di Gong. It was this deity who was in charge of administering the affairs of a particular village. In traditional times, village concerns were primarily agricultural or weather-related. This god was not all-powerful, but was a modest heavenly bureaucrat to whom individual villagers could turn in times of drought or famine.

Today, he is still worshipped by many Chinese. House shrines and temples usually honor Tu Di Gong, whose image is commonly located under the main altar. Many worshippers make prayers to him for wealth and their well being. He is also traditionally worshipped before the burial of a loved one, to thank him for using his land to return their loved one to the earth.

Commoners often called Tu Di Gong "Grandpa," which reflects his close relationship to the common people.

Tu Di Gong is portrayed as an elderly man with a long white beard, a black or gold hat and a red or yellow robe, which signifies his position as a bureaucrat. He carries a wooden staff in his right hand and a golden ingot on the left. Chinese folk religion comprises the religion practiced in much of China for thousands of years which included ancestor worship and drew heavily upon concepts and beings within Chinese mythology. It is a constituent part of Chinese traditional religion.