Judged, however, from chapter five of the Sou-shen chi, or In Search of the Supernatural, where Chiang Tzu-wen styles himself the god of the earth, the belief in an earth god existed as early as the first half of the third century. The belief grew in popularity during the fifth century and by the seventh had spread over the whole of China.
若從「搜神記」卷五蔣子文自稱土地神的記載來看，大約在西元三世紀前半葉已有土地公的信仰、五世紀時逐漸流行、至七世紀時廣及全中國，各地建有土地祠。