With the passage of history, the appellation of four seas Poseidon has also changed. The Western Zhou Dynasty's A Brief Introduction to the Golden Chamber of Tai Gong said that "the God of the East China Sea is called Gou Mang, the God of the South China Sea is called Zhu Rong, the God of the West Sea is called Ru Shou, and the God of the North Sea is called Xuan Ming". Chen Ziai believes that this is the result of confusing the God of the Quartet with the God of the Four Seas.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Buddhism began to be introduced into China. Because the boundless dragon king from the Western Heaven described in Buddhist scriptures has boundless divine power, it can spread clouds and rain, and it is integrated with the original early Poseidon in China in the shape of a dragon snake, which naturally replaces the original Poseidon in China. From then on, China was taken over by the Dragon Kings all over the world and became the king of the sea.
China's first female sea god, Goddess of Guanyin in Putuo, Donghai, was also born in the Han and Tang Dynasties. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, there appeared a female sea god, the famous Fujian Mazu. As for China's Poseidon, there are Dong Hai Gu, Fu, Poseidon, Nanying Lady and so on in the Taoist books of Song Dynasty recorded in ancient books.
There is also a larger and more complex Poseidon system, mainly distributed in the southeast coastal areas of China, including local Poseidon, emperors and generals, historical celebrities, local sages on the island and fishermen who have dedicated themselves to the people. Specifically, this kind of sea gods should include tide gods, ship gods, net gods, reef gods, fish gods, island gods and so on.
Tide God: Wu Zixu is worshipped along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Because of his outspoken loyalty, he was beheaded by Fu Cha, the king of Wu, and lived in rivers and seas. He was furious and rushed into the Qianjiang tide, and was honored as the tide god.
Ship God: The southeast coast of China is commonly known as Master Ship and Bodhisattva Ship. In Shengsi Islands, it is commonly known as Master Guan. The situation of the ship god is more complicated. There are men, such as Lu Ban, because he is the ancestor of shipbuilding. Guan Yu is respected by fishermen for his fortitude and courage. And the boss, Yang Fu, is a master fisherman. There are women, such as Mazu, Guanyin and Guan Chengyu.
Net God: In Zhoushan Islands, it is said that the net god is Hai Qingtian Hai Rui, because the wheel net for catching cuttlefish was invented by Hai Rui. It is said that Fuxi, the leader of the dragon, invented fishing nets, because Fuxi was induced by spiders to catch flying insects, which created many conveniences for fishermen to fish in the sea.
Reef God: There are many reefs along the southeast coast of China. For example, there is a sacred valley reef on the ocean island of Shengsi, and there is a temple dedicated to the goddess of sacred valley on the reef. Holy nuns are reef gods. Fishing boats must climb the reef to make sacrifices to avoid accidents such as hitting the reef and breaking the net.
Fish God: There is a sea god along the coast of Shandong, commonly known as "old man", "Lao Zhao" and "fisherman". In fact, he is a fish god, that is, a whale. Whales can catch fish one by one in the net, so they are called "fishermen". Fishermen in Yuhuan and Dongtou in southern Zhejiang also believe in fish gods. For example, in the spring of March, they saw the first big fish that surfaced, namely Poseidon, and they had to make a grand sacrifice before they could go to sea. If there is no sacrifice, the ship will be hurt by big fish when it goes out to sea.
Island God: There are local gods in the southeast coastal islands of China, or island gods. Island gods include main island gods and main ao gods, and the situation is very complicated. For example, the main island gods in Minnan and Taiwan Province Province are mostly Tianhou Mazu. The main island gods of Zhoushan Islands are Guanyin, Dragon King or Guan Yu. However, there are many island gods with different characteristics in different historical periods all over the country. For example, Taiwan Province Province and Fujian Province also have the belief of narcissus. The Narcissus Temple enshrines Dayu, Wu Zixu, Qu Yuan, Wang Bo and Li Bai, all of whom are outstanding figures in history.