His Highness Chu

His Highness Chu, or "Zhufu Qiansuii"(朱府千歲 ) in Taiwanese, means brother of an Emperor, whose family name is Chu. It is one of the Gods of Five Palaces, "Wufu Qiansui"(五府千歲). The Gods' family names are Li, Chi, Wu, Zhu, and Fan(李 池 吳 朱 范). His Highness Chu and the other Gods of Five Palaces are one of the popular traditional beliefs/religion in Taiwan. Their history is referred to as the Tang Dynasty, which took place almost 1300 years ago.

According to Prof. Liu, C-W, a member of Academia Sinica, Taiwan, the tale of the five Gods says that the Gods died at Emperor's test, which was to defeat a ghost. They sacrificed themselves, then the Emperor regretted this, and then posthumously named them "His Highness". The five Gods are then in charge of the epidemic diseases, because they regard the diseases as ghost's haunt.

The most famous temple of the Gods ia at Nan-Kun-Shen, Pei-Men Hsian, Tainan County, Taiwan. The famous His Highness Chu Yuan-Di Temple (元帝廟) is located at Tsoying, Kaohsiung City. There are three statues: The Eldest (Da-Wan), the Middle (Er-Wan), and The Third (Shan-Wan). The Eldest holds the Temple. The Middle is for royal progress or guests at nearby ceremonies. The Third is relatively new (established in 2004) and is for confession or dissolving troubles and still acting every lunar days as 3,6,9.

The popular belief was transferred from the mainlaind, but it is not flourishing there yet. It is difficult to separate this belief from Taoism, because Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are similar.