Is this Chinese lady praying to God in the Chinese "Three Kingdoms" TV series?

rakovsky · Mar 6, 2021

At 1 Minute 30 seconds in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Episode 2, according to the English subtitles, the noblewoman prays to "God" in front of a shrine. I am wondering, since I can't understand Chinese, is this referring to Tien/Heaven/Heavenly God, or to another specific deity?

Daniel9v9 · Mar 22, 2021

rakovsky said:
At 1 Minute 30 seconds in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Episode 2, according to the English subtitles, the noblewoman prays to "God" in front of a shrine. I am wondering, since I can't understand Chinese, is this referring to Tien/Heaven/Heavenly God, or to another specific deity?

I don't speak Mandarin, sorry, but I'm guessing given the context that she's not praying to our God. Sometimes the translation can give the appearance of referring to Jesus/YHWH given the capital "G" in God. However, she's most likely praying to what we can think of as a spirit or ancestor; not a Monotheistic and Omnipotent God.

I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that Christianity did not reach China, at least not in any significant way, before the Three Kingdoms Era. I suppose it's plausible that the Old Testament faith could have reached China through the Silkroad, which could have found its way into some noblehouses, but I think that would be quite uncommon.

Natto · Jun 4, 2021

Yes I kind of guess she is just praying to , Heavenly God, or but those Gods are usually oriental God in general.......no specific God's in her speech...(but nowaday a large proportion of Chinese believe in Budda from india in Tang Dynasty, which is much later era than 3 kindgom.), ...Sometimes, not in tv, that people might pray to ancestors...for their another world, guidance, blessing and assistance......that's my two cent, hope it help

cheers..

rakovsky · Jun 5, 2021

Daniel9v9 said:
I don't speak Mandarin, sorry, but I'm guessing given the context that she's not praying to our God. Sometimes the translation can give the appearance of referring to Jesus/YHWH given the capital "G" in God. However, she's most likely praying to what we can think of as a spirit or ancestor; not a Monotheistic and Omnipotent God.

I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that Christianity did not reach China, at least not in any significant way, before the Three Kingdoms Era. I suppose it's plausible that the Old Testament faith could have reached China through the Silkroad, which could have found its way into some noblehouses, but I think that would be quite uncommon.

Daniel,
There's a common theory, including among historic and current Christian missionaries to China, that China had the concept of God, especially when it referred to Shang Di, literally meaning something like "Supreme Deity." In this theory, it was common for religions of the world to have some concept of God per se, either because of a common origin of world nations/peoples who recognized God, like from the inhabitants of Noah's Ark, or else more simply because God is real and True, and then due to the reality of this Truth, other peoples have given recognition to God, even though their theology does not necessarily totally match ours.

rakovsky · Jun 5, 2021

Natto said:
Yes I kind of guess she is just praying to , Heavenly God, or but those Gods are usually oriental God in general.......no specific God's in her speech...(but nowaday a large proportion of Chinese believe in Budda from india in Tang Dynasty, which is much later era than 3 kindgom.), ...Sometimes, not in tv, that people might pray to ancestors...for their another world, guidance, blessing and assistance......that's my two cent, hope it help

cheers..

She literally says Shen Ling, as I recall. And those two words' meanings include variations of "God" and "Spirit." One problem with translating Chinese in general is that the same word can mean a verb, noun, adjective, plural or singular word. This kind of thing happens in English sometimes, eg. Moose is both singular and plural, and can be a noun or adjective; Herd is a verb, collective noun (a herd is made of multiple animals), and adjective (as in "herd mentality"), but seems much more common in Chinese.

So in Chinese, as a matter of grammar she could be referring to "Spirit Gods," "Divine Spirits," "God Spirits," "Divine God," etc.

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Is this Chinese lady praying to God in the Chinese "Three Kingdoms" TV series?

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