Wenchang Wang

The stars all had names of their own: Shangjiang (上將), Cijiang (次將), Guixiang (貴相), Siming (司命), Sizhong (司中), and Silu (司祿).

Wenchang Wang is often depicted as an elderly scholar accompanied by two attendants, Tianlong (天聾 or Heaven-Deaf) and Diya (地啞 or Earth-Mute).

[citation needed] There are quite a few accounts of Wenchang Wang; most depict him as a man by the name Zhang Yazi (張亞子), of a county in Sichuan Province called Zitong.

A notable account of an appearance of Wenchang Wang was as the Spirit of Zitong, during the suppression of a rebellion in Chengdu, Sichuan, in 1000 A.D. A man allegedly climbed a ladder in midst of battle and declared that the Spirit of Zitong told him the "town [of rebels] would fall on the twentieth day of the ninth moon."

[citation needed] Besides that, structures dedicated to the high god Wenchang and his subordinate Kuixing were a pervasive feature of cityscapes in late imperial China, as represented in local gazetteers.

Werner points out that "Wherever Wenchang is worshiped there will also be found a separate representation of Kui Xing, showing that while the official deity has been allowed to 'borrow glory' from the popular god, and even to assume his personality, the independent existence of the stellar spirit is nevertheless sedulously maintained."

Initially, scholars worshiped this star, Kui Xing, as the God of Literature, but with time, he was eventually linked to the Dipper (constellation) or Great Bear, and assimilated into Wenchang Jundi.

The practice of worshiping Wenchang Wang has a long history; it was popular in the past because he was allowed to be venerated by the rich and poor alike.