Worship of the God of the Land in Bangkok and Teochew Regarding the Investigation of lau ya

This study examines the custom of beliefs in the God of the land in central Thailand by comparing the worship of Puntaokong, city god or other related guardian spirit such as the city pillar in Bangkok with the belief in lau ya or ditao lau ya (meaning the God of the land in Teochew dialect) among the Teochew people. Puntaokong is the God of the land most common and widely worshiped by Chinese immigrants in Thailand and other Southeast Asian counties, although researchers on extant studies generally believe that Puntaokong never existed in China but was created by Chinese immigrants in Thailand or Southeast Asia. Puntaokong encompasses various gods, both gods of Taoist and Chinese officials or elites who are believed to have visited a certain area are regarded as gods and worshipped. However, there are also research equates Puntaokong with a guardian God of the land in new settlement areas whom were recreated by the immigrants instand of brought from their homelands in southern China. Moreover, similar remarks are often heard among Thai Chinese in Bangkok, especially among the beliefs related to the god of the land such as the city god among Teochew people and beliefs of the city pillar among Thai people. One important reason for the difficulty in distinguishing the decomposition of the god of the land is that there are similar deities on both sides. For instance, Chinese immigrants in Bangkok share similar stories about lau ya or ditao lau ya, the City God or about worshiping the city pillar of the Thai people. Therefore, it is necessary to reexamine the folk beliefs of Teochew, one of the main origins of immigrants in Bangkok. This study mainly focuses on the worship of the so-called lau ya, which is worshipped jointly by the residents of Bangkok and Teochew, and examines the phenomenon of the worship of the god of the land in modern Thai society.