Why Guan Yu became god

Guan Yu was a military general in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, who followed Liu Bei in his southern and northern expeditions and made great contributions. However, due to his arrogant personality, he led to the loss of Jingzhou and even risked his own life. But perhaps he himself didn’t know that he gradually became a god in later generations!
In fact, during the Three Kingdoms period, Guan Yu did not make much contribution, so his evaluation in the “Records of the Three Kingdoms” was also stubborn and self serving. Liu Shan, the ruler of Shu Han, bestowed a posthumous title of “Marquis of Zhuangmu”, which literally means a bad posthumous title. Because of Guan Yu’s arrogance, it led to his own death, followed by Zhang Fei’s death, and ultimately Liu Bei’s death. No wonder Liu Shan treated his uncle so badly.
From the end of the Three Kingdoms period to the Two Jin Dynasty, in order to prevent evil spirits from causing chaos in Jingzhou, there was a custom of worshipping local defeated generals. It was from this time that Guan Yu was first worshipped and worshipped.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, due to the constant wars, the land of Jingzhou worshipped Guan Yu as a city god, praying for his protection. At this time, Guan Yu became one of the four great protectors of Taoism.
As time passed, Buddhism slowly began to flow into the Central Plains dynasties. In order to localize and expand its influence, Buddhism revered Guan Yu as the protector of the Dharma, Jia Lan. During the Tang Dynasty, Guan Yu was selected as one of the 64 generals of the Wu Temple, and his deified influence spread from the land of Jingchu to the whole country.
In the Song Dynasty, Guan Yu’s status began to rise again, and he was promoted to king. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, Guan Yu was first conferred the title of Duke Zhonghui, and later promoted to the titles of King Wu’an and King Yiyong Wu’an.
During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Shenzong launched three expeditions, also known as the Three Great Expeditions of Wanli. At this time, the army urgently needed a martial god to strengthen its morale, so Guan Yu was promoted again and declared emperor, revered as the God of the Three Realms, the Great Demon Suppressing Emperor, and the Heavenly Sovereign Guan Sheng.
In the Qing Dynasty, the founder of the Qing Dynasty, Nurhaci, held a book called “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” in order to learn about Han culture and military strategy. Among them, Nurhaci’s most admired person was Guan Yu, and for the sake of his idol, he ordered the construction of Guan Di temples throughout the country.
In the mid Qing Dynasty, there were as many as 300000 Guandi temples of various sizes across the country. And since Emperor Shunzhi, successive emperors have continuously bestowed titles upon Guan Yu. Until the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Guan Yu’s divine name had grown to 26 characters long, and his full name was: Loyalty, Righteousness, Divine Spirit, Blessing, Benevolence, Bravery, Might, Protection of the Country, Protection of the People, Sincere Pacification, Yizan, Xuande, Guan Sheng Emperor.
Until today, Guan Yu is still the only deity worshipped by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in Chinese history, and his influence covers all levels of society, becoming one of the symbols of Chinese national culture