Apotheosis of Li Jing: Its Evolution and Causes

Li Jing is a famous general in Tang Dynasty. With the going on of time, he was deified. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people knew the Li Jing was a characterized as To Ta King by novelists. Li's deification began from the Tang Dynasty and the process has two versions, one in the form of written-note legend and the other in book of history. From the former version, he was a tall and strong man in black, a character that changed from virtual to real, being able to safeguard people with his omnipotence. And the deification fossilized in the late Tang Dynasty. From the latter version, his deification escalated into someone of political status, a god with the duty to ask the sky for rain. Finally, the paper analyzed his deification from the backgrounds of religion, politics, his art works, his military competence and personal character.