Caishen

Several versions concerning the political affiliations and modes of deification of Caishen's incarnations are in circulation. According to legend, Bi Gan — the Shang dynasty prince and minister put to death by his nephew Di Xin — had a wife of the Chen clan and a son named Quan (). After Bi Gan's execution, his wife and son fled into the woods; Quan was later honoured by King Wu of Zhou as the founding ancestor of the Lin clan. Bi Gan's deification as a wealth god is one of the older strata of the Caishen tradition and is dramatised at length in the Ming dynasty novel The Investiture of the Gods. The Caishen of all directions The "Five Roads Wealth Gods" (; wǔ lù cáishén) tradition, in which Zhao Gongming functions as central deity flanked by four assistants for the cardinal directions, derives principally from the Ming dynasty novel The Investiture of the Gods and from the religious compendium Sanjiao Soushen Daquan. Caishen sometimes appears as a door god in Chinese and Taoist temples, usually in partnership with the Burning-Lamp Taoist. ==Civil and Military Wealth Gods==

Caishen incarnations are conventionally classified into two complementary categories. The Civil Wealth Gods (; wén cáishén) — chiefly Bi Gan and Fan Li (Tao Zhugong) — are depicted in court robes and associated with steady, ethical, and salaried wealth. The Military Wealth Gods (; wǔ cáishén) — chiefly Zhao Gongming and, in later tradition, Guan Yu — are depicted in armour and associated with commercial and entrepreneurial wealth. ==Contemporary worship==

Caishen is among the most prominent deities greeted during Chinese New Year celebrations. In northern Chinese folk practice, families "welcome the God of Wealth" (; jiē Cáishén) on the second day of the first lunar month; in southern Chinese and overseas Chinese communities the principal observance falls on the fifth day, traditionally called pò wǔ (). Customary offerings include fish, fruit, and ingot-shaped dumplings (; yuánbǎo tāng), and many businesses time their first day of trading after the New Year break to coincide with the welcoming day. ==Buddhism==

Though Caishen is a Chinese folk deity, many Pure Land Buddhists venerate him as a buddha. In esoteric Buddhist schools he is identified as Jambhala. ==See also==