Paper horse (zhima)

There are so many legends and so widely disseminated on the origin of the "Kitchen God" Zaoshen or Caojun/Zaojun that its devotion must be a reelaboration of the very old cult of the genius locii. Here Zaoshen is represented with both his wives in the upper part of the print and Caishen, the God of Wealth, stands with his attendants in the lower part. On both sides, the eight Immortals that represent common activities and different classes of society. So this modest Qing dynasty print from Yangjiabu is like a small "pantheon" of the divinities most loved by Chinese farmers.