Cover: Five Gods of Wealth, a multicolour woodblock print in the National Museum of History, Taipei, accession 85-00425. The processions depict the arrival of wealth. Museum image, CC BY; original inscriptions and museum markings preserved.
Horses loaded with treasure approach a house. Women and children wait to welcome the returning party. In the woodblock print above, wealth has a destination: home.
The print is called Five Gods of Wealth. That name belongs to a group of deities associated with prosperity in Taoism and Chinese folk religion. Their Chinese name, Wu Lu Cai Shen, means Wealth Gods of the Five Directions. Understanding those directions, and the figures who occupy them, reveals a wish that reaches beyond a pile of gold: may a livelihood flourish, and may its rewards reach the people who depend on it.
Why are there five directions?
East, west, south, and north account for four. The fifth is the center. Together they form an image of completeness, with the surrounding world gathered around a central point.
For the Five Gods of Wealth, this arrangement expresses prosperity arriving from every direction. Picture the idea from the position of a shopkeeper: goods come in, customers arrive, and news of an opportunity travels from someone outside the shop. The spatial image gives a broad shape to the hope that these connections will go well.
Zhao Gongming leads the group from the center. Four other gods occupy the surrounding directions, each with a title concerned with welcoming treasure, receiving valuables, attracting wealth, or favorable trade. Their arrangement is described in the Shiding Five Wealth Gods Temple’s guide. Together, they express a wish for prosperity from all sides.
A story in which wealth becomes a responsibility
The five figures appear together near the end of Fengshen Yanyi, often translated as Investiture of the Gods, a Chinese novel combining war, divine beings, and the creation of a heavenly order.
In chapter 99, Jiang Ziya, the figure entrusted with assigning divine offices, presides over the ceremony. Zhao Gongming is called forward to receive his appointment. Four named gods are placed under his command, with responsibilities that include welcoming good fortune and blessings.
The appointment gives each of the four a title. Xiao Sheng is the Heavenly Lord Who Beckons Treasure; Cao Bao is the Heavenly Lord Who Receives Precious Things. Chen Jiugong becomes the Envoy Who Attracts Wealth, and Yao Shaosi the Immortal Official of Favorable Trade.
These titles make the relationship easier to understand. Zhao is the leader of a divine company, while the others give specific names to hopes surrounding wealth and exchange. In the story, a divine title comes with work to do. This makes the group more than a list of names: each member has a part in welcoming the blessings people seek.
Meet the five, one direction at a time
The following arrangement combines the names and offices in the novel with their positions in the temple tradition. Each translated title explains the wish associated with that god.
- Center — Zhao Gongming, the leading martial wealth deity. His warrior identity gives this group its commanding central figure. He leads the four gods whose titles name their particular duties.
- East — Xiao Sheng, 招宝天尊, the Heavenly Lord Who Beckons Treasure. Zhao bao means calling or inviting treasure. The title gives the wish for wealth a welcoming action.
- West — Cao Bao, 纳珍天尊, the Heavenly Lord Who Receives Precious Things. Na zhen concerns receiving valuables. Alongside Xiao Sheng’s title, it joins the invitation to the arrival of what is valued.
- South — Chen Jiugong, 招财使者, the Envoy Who Attracts Wealth. An envoy carries out a commission. His title makes the gathering of wealth part of the group’s shared work.
- North — Yao Shaosi, 利市仙官, the Immortal Official of Favorable Trade. Li shi brings the idea close to everyday commerce: profitable business and an auspicious outcome.
There is no need to memorize every name at once. Notice the verbs: beckon, receive, attract. Wealth is pictured as something moving into people’s lives. Favorable trade adds an everyday setting to that movement: people exchanging goods and hoping the transaction goes well.
Reading a picture of wealth coming home
The National Museum of History in Taipei holds this multicolored woodblock print, accession 85-00425. Its two horizontal scenes turn the subject into a procession. The inscriptions connect wealth from the five directions with a prosperous return home.
The household waiting above
In the upper scene, an official rides a horse while other horses carry treasure. Women and children wait at the house. The load has somewhere to go, and people are there to receive it.
That detail changes the way we read the abundance. The image lets us connect prosperity with a household, a return, and a welcome. This is an interpretation prompted by the scene itself: the treasure travels toward people.
The offering below
The lower scene includes a carriage and a horse carrying a large ingot. A figure presents an ingot to an official-looking elder. An ingot is a shaped lump of precious metal; here its enlarged form makes wealth easy to recognize.
Across the two scenes, loaded animals, human attendants, and the act of presenting treasure make prosperity visible as arrival and exchange. The print tells its story through these processions; the five gods named in the tradition are not presented here as a row of five labeled portraits.
Welcoming the wealth gods at the New Year
The wish to welcome prosperity also takes ritual form. The National Museum of Finland’s account of Caishen customs describes incense, firecrackers, and images of the wealth deity displayed at doorposts during the New Year. It also records temple offerings of incense on the fifth day of the lunar year.
Taiwan’s National Cultural Memory Bank connects the fifth day with reopening for business. Its account places the five gods within the hopes of people earning a living across different trades.
Seen in that setting, a doorway matters. It is where the outside world meets the household or business. Placing an auspicious image there gives the wish for a prosperous year a visible place in daily life. A returning customer, a reliable supplier, or a season of steady work can make that wish feel very concrete.
What prosperity can mean to someone today
Imagine closing a small business for the evening. The day’s takings must cover stock, wages, and the expenses waiting at home. A good week can mean paying everyone on time and setting something aside for the next quiet spell. In that moment, the wish for prosperity has a specific weight: enough to keep going, with fewer worries carried home.
For a devotee, the Five Gods of Wealth are figures of worship, and prayer expresses trust in their care. For someone with family ties to the custom, the image may recall a parent preparing to reopen after the New Year. Someone encountering it for the first time can begin with that human context: the hope that work will support a life.
A wish for a good livelihood can be kept close in our Five Gods of Wealth ring. Worn for yourself, it may recall what you are working toward. Given to someone starting a business, it can express a simple hope: may the work flourish and support the people you care about.
The center can also offer a useful personal question: what should success support? It might be a household with less strain, enough time to care for a relative, or a business that treats people fairly. Choosing that meaning makes the symbol part of how someone thinks about their work.
Look again at the people waiting in the print. The treasure is on its way to them. The Five Gods of Wealth give a religious form to the hope for prosperity from every direction; the homecoming reminds us why that prosperity is wanted.