Who does "Tianguan" refer to when "Tianguan gives blessings"?
Taoism worships the three gods of heaven, earth and water, also called the three officials. "Tianguan" is one of the three officials, and its full name is "Shangyuan Yipin Blessing Tianguan", also known as Ziwei Emperor. It is what people call the god of blessings in charge of the distribution of blessings in the world.
Many gods in Taoism will be "humanized", and people will elevate those they respect and trust to the status of gods. The person who ascended the throne of Lucky Star was Yangcheng, the governor of Daozhou (now Daoxian County, Hunan Province) in the Tang Dynasty.
Yangcheng, named Kangzong, was born in Xia County, Shaanxi Province (now part of Shanxi) in the Tang Dynasty. History records that throughout his life, he was independent of the world, eager to learn and be charitable, and was known for his loyalty, justice and outstanding conduct.
Yangcheng was poor since he was a child and had no money to buy books. He was studious by nature and asked to do chores for free in the government academy to take this opportunity to study. Six years later, he passed the Jinshi examination, but he did not want to be an official and lived in seclusion in Zhongtiao Mountain.
Prime Minister Li Mi admired Yangcheng's talents and recommended him to Tang Dezong many times, and eventually he became an admonishing official.
Later, because of his loyalty, Yangcheng hid an official friend who quietly returned after being demoted to a distant place in his home, and was demoted to the governor of Daozhou by Tang Dezong.
After Yangcheng arrived in Daozhou, he worked hard to govern and care about the people's sentiments. History records that he "governs the people as he governs his family. It is appropriate to punish them and to reward them."
He lives a very frugal life. Except for keeping enough for his monthly salary, the rest belongs to the government. He often puts the fish and meat prescribed by the government for his own consumption by the roadside to share with the people. On the other hand, he often resisted the taxes allocated by the court, and thus offended the court, so he had to resign and go home.
There are many dwarfs among the people of Daozhou, and the imperial court once required local officials to pay tribute to a few of them every year and serve as official slaves in the palace.
When Yangcheng was in office, he wrote to Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty demanding the abolition of this inhumane system, and said angrily, "We only have short common people here, but there are no short slaves." Tang Dezong was very ashamed after seeing it and abolished the system.
The people of Daozhou felt the kindness of Yangcheng and named their descendants after Yangcheng. Later, they enshrined it as a god and called it the God of Fortune in Daozhou.
After that, word spread among the people in various places, and Taoism followed the public opinion and promoted him to the throne of the God of Fortune.