And business people might I add.

Police, triad gangs, business people, then to worship Guan Yu.

The trinity of Kuan Yin, Wei Tuo ( Skanda who is actually Murugan ) and Guan Gong is on the other hand more popularly worshipped by Buddhist.

Chinese it has to be after death.

Also the Taoist and Confucian clergy will not acknowledge people who had led horrible lives or caused more harm than good. There is one person who some people alleges is now a God who has not been elevated at all ( after all how can a person who caused the Cultural Revolution be elevated ).

Genghis Khan is also not elevated for the same reason, as is Qin Shih Huang.

This is despite people actually reporting supernatural interventions. Some beings are simply never acknowledged.

Again not a Chinese concept.

Essentially in Chinese belief, when a person of certain moral worthiness dies, in the Heavens He or She is granted the opportunity to watch over a sphere of human or natural activity. This portfolio gives them an officer position in Heaven, making them a God.

This opportunity is not granted to every soul. It is only granted to the most worthy. This is overseen by the Jade Emperor with the Dipper Mother, Queen Mother of the West etc.. who are the primordial immortals, plus also the court of other elevated mortals to Godhood and by non Gods who are humans who nonetheless dwells in the Heavens as glorious ancestors.

( The Chinese believe that while not all individuals get into Heaven … some really nasty beings get born in Hell majority gets into the ancestral Hall where they watch over their descendants. Some ancestors who are very good but not good enough to become Gods still gets to stay in the Heavens to act as workers or guards or just citizens of Heaven. When newly deceased mortals are elevated to Godhood all Heavenly beings gets say in this promotion … even non Gods ).

We just get to know that this has happened when on Earth prayers get answered and miracles happen by this individual.

It is not considered a common occurrence. Traditionally there entire clergies determining if a minor prayer answered is because a person merely got into Heaven OR is actually a God. There are many minor Gods in the Chinese pantheon where are disputes about whether they are merely Heavenly beings or Gods.

There is a popular deity in southern China who is worshipped for medical blessings who is not in fact officially considered a God but rather just a helpful Heavenly being who procures Heavenly treatment and send them to Earth!!!

Well not exactly war.

Guan Gong is not generally worshiped as the God of War. He is generally worshipped as the God of Honour, God of Justice, God of the Upright, God who protects the innocent, a wealth God for legally gotten wealth, God of Contracts, God of Physical Activity and finally, God of War.

However He is not worshipped to invoke war or call upon war. People generally believe He hates war BUT if push to come to shove He will participate. However He is generally invoked to be brave when facing conflict. However He is also the God to negotiate one’s way out of conflict.

This is why He is generally paired with Kuan Yin. Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Peace, Love, Compassion, Kindness, Forgiveness, Wisdom, Protection, Health and Healing. She is the preventer of conflicts and prefers to resolve conflicts via discussion and understanding and friendship.

So if peace fails, then you need Guan Gong. However Guan Gong in Chinese belief actually adores Kuan Yin as His friend and teacher, so the moment the conflict exhaust itself He quickly passes things back to Kuan Yin to mend the fence.

This is not 100% correct ( I follow the Chinese folk religion ). It tends to rely upon two things:-

1. Examplary life ( ie:- you really need to as a human being lead a moral life OR if not a moral life then have done a single deed so heroic or so good or so amazing that it is worthy of praise. Most of the time this single deed causes one’s death or if not directly cause it leads to one’s death years later )
2. Post death, a miracle must have had happened. People must either have witnessed the person ascending to the Heavens, or blessings or healing associated with the person occurs.

Once this two things are met, and the person achieves a strong but informal following, then Canonisation happens when one is acknowledged to be a God.

This is how Mazu became a Goddess, how Guan Zhe Zhun Wang became a God etc.. how Guan Gong became a God. Once upon a time they were all normal human beings like you and me. In the case of Mazu as Lin Moniang She was such a helpful, kind, heroic and brave teenager and then later younger adult then when she finally died people mourned her, only to have Her come back as a Goddess guiding their ships through the sea.

Prediction 1:- ChatGPT will improve to the point it renders Google obsolete, and people will be trawling through it for research projects or code mining etc.. It’s presence will threaten establish writers in the same way DallE has threatened artist. Scientific advance will improve.

Prediction 2:- EV or hydrogen will take over petrol car in terms of new sales by 2028. There will still be more petrol vehicle but their dusk is sealed by 2028.

Prediction 3:- It is likely we will have a large El Niño between now and 2028. The impact of this El Niño will be devastating for many developing countries, and I wholly anticipate a large climate refugee wave.

Prediction 4:- We will have our first senolytics completing phase 2 trials by 2028.