What is "sanxing"

Sanxing Township , also spelled Sanshing Township, is a rural township in the western part of Yilan County, Taiwan.

The Sanxing (三星 "Three Stars"), who are Fu, Lu, and Shou , or Cai, Zi and Shou (財子壽), are the gods of the three stars and the three qualities of Prosperity ( Fu), Status (Lu), and Longevity ( Shou) in Chinese religion. These icons are thought to date back to the Ming dynasty, when the gods of the three stars were represented in human form for the first time. They are sometimes identified with other deities of the Chinese religion or of Taoism.

The term is commonly used in Chinese culture to denote the three attributes of a good life. Statues of these three gods are found on the facades of folk religion's temples and ancestral shrines, in nearly every Chinese home and many Chinese-owned shops on small altars with a glass of water, an orange or other auspicious offerings, especially during Chinese New Year. Traditionally, they are arranged right to left (so Shou is on the left of the viewer, Lu in the middle, and Fu on the far right), just as Chinese characters are traditionally written from right to left.