Book Cover-- Guandi Mingshen zhenjing 關帝明聖真經

 Below is the cover of the Guandi Mingshen zhenjing 關帝明聖真經-- Lord Guan's true scripture. This book was found in 2018 in Singapore. There, it is a custom for religious books to be freely distributed to the Public. To that end, shelves are placed in public areas, for such books to be placed. The book below is one such example. 

The book is bound in the Traditional Chinese manner, with thread, and the delightful wrapping-paper cover glued to the spine to form a wrapper. The book's creator has written the title 關帝明聖真經--Lord Guan's true scripture in a neat hand. In a smaller hand, to the botton left of the book is written 贈送品--  For Free distribution. 

The book is attributed to Lord Guan. 關羽 Guan Yu , The celebrated Chinese general. He is depicted to the right in a frontispiece. These illustrations were probably taken from a printed book. 

The first page of the text

Now we come to the most astonishing feature of the book. The text of the book is a photocopy of a Manuscript. By contrast, most books distributed in such a manner are typeset, and printed by large printing-houses. The production of this book must certainty be a small, cottage operation, reflecting the devotion of its creator. 

The second and third text pages of the text

The faint black frame around the texts comes from the Chinese Foolscap paper, that the scribe used to write this book on. The consistency of the scribe's handwriting must be praised. 

In addition to the photocopied portions, one of the book's owners has added a section in manuscript, written in Blue ballpoint pen. These manuscript sections are presented above. They are short religious invocations

The author will, in a future post, upload scans of the entire book, in hope that its creator's singular act of devotion will be perpetuated, as well as to provide material for students of the Chinese Folk religion.

In the meanwhile, if any reader may provide a more precise description of the book's contents, the author will be most delight to receive it.

以上的文章是介紹一本手抄的《關帝明聖真經》。這本書是在新加坡發現到，如果有讀者有有關這本書的知識或資料，請通知筆者。 謝謝。

Joss paper 1- "Cloth"

According to Chinese tradition, one may send gifts to one's ancestors ( clothes, money and even whole houses) if paper representations of these things are burnt as offerings to them. Such paper articles are commonly known as "joss paper" .
  Many of these papers are most curious , if in their own gaudy way, and I shall be presenting more of such things in the future.

The present article of joss paper is a square sheet of thin Chinese , or "Rice" paper. It is printed with a elegant pattern of flowers and scrollwork. It is intended to represent a piece of patterned cloth-- presumably for ancestors who prefer making their own clothes.

 

This paper is printed off a woodblock, as seen from the black gouge marks in the upper left corner. This is somewhat surprising, considering that this paper was bought around 2011.This sheet was once part of a stack of sheets. All bore the same pattern ( as here) but were printed on different colour of paper -- green , yellow  and white in addition to this pink colour.