Erlang God is a widely influential example of popular belief in China. Since ancient times, most folk beliefs have been based on Jiro worship in Guankou, Sichuan, and Erlang Temple (also known as Erwang Temple) stands on the east bank of Minjiang River in Dujiangyan. Correspondingly, the worship of Erlang God in Sichuan is also the most prosperous, and all kinds of folk behaviors, such as exorcising demons and epidemics, reducing demons and towns, regulating floods, seasonal competitions, etc., invite Erlang God; A large number of legends about Jiro have been integrated into various dramas, even affecting place names and mountain names. However, it is a difficult problem to ask Erlang's surname and first name. That is to say, taking the Erlang Temple in Guankou as an example, the contradictions caused by various opinions are reflected here: according to the record of searching for gods in the Origin of Three Religions, this temple should be a Taoist temple, and Erlang gods are Zhao Yu and Zhao Erlang, who were posthumously named as "the true king of Qingyuan Miao Dao" in Song Zhenzong; However, the statue of Erlang God in this temple was a young husband, wearing a helmet and armor, and did not need powder. The most striking thing is that he has an eye on his forehead, a three-pointed double-edged knife in his hand, and a god dog in front of his soap boots, which makes people know at a glance that this is Yang Erlang described in The Journey to the West's Romance of Gods. Surprisingly, scholars of all ages praised Erlang God as the son of Li Bing, the guardian of Shu County in pre-Qin Dynasty, for the plaques, couplets and stone carvings embedded in the temple walls. If you have an inquisitive pilgrim, you have to be vague: anyway, you worship "Erlang God".
In addition, it has been suggested that "Yang Erlang" may be a homonym of "Yang Erlang". For example, Huang Zhigang thinks that the prototype of Erlang Pass is Dayu, the ancestor of the ancient Qiang people, and it is the custom of the Qiang people to kill sheep to worship the gods. It further proves the legend in natural history that "the surname Yang in western Sichuan is the descendant of sheep", the meaningless name of sheep in Sichuan (Yangmengshan, Yangqu County and Yangfeishan) and the custom that "people sacrifice sheep (Li Bing) for 40,000 to 50,000 yuan" in Fan Shihu's Preface to Li Dui's Poems, and infers that most of the surnames Yang in central Sichuan moved abroad. Li Sichun had a similar opinion, but he speculated that Jiro Pass should have been the shepherd and hunter of Qiang people and Miao people at first. Shooting and hunting must carry bows and arrows and hounds, so the gateway gods in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties wore armor and held bows and arrows, and the shape of Erlang God driving an eagle and leading a dog in Ming Dynasty novels also evolved from this.