Wu Gang

HIS PUNISHMENT BECAME A METAPHOR FOR SUCCESS. The man condemned to cut a tree that heals itself supplies the idiom for passing the examinations — and the corpus already held Chang'e, who lives on the same moon, without him.

Domains

• the lunar osmanthus
• endless labour
• the examinations metaphor

Relations

• punished by: Jade EmperorNon-symmetric, written from this end only. DIRECTLY ATTESTED: Wu Gang aspired to immortality and, through impatience and lack of dedication, was punished by the Jade Emperor, who sent him to the Moon Palace to fell the self-healing tree.Reference treatment of the Four Heavenly Ministers and the Jade Emperor's subordinates: the Four Heavenly Ministers are four of the highest sky deities of Daoism, subordinate only to the Great Jade Emperor, and they assist him in administering all phenomena of the universe; Houtu is responsible for all things on earth and is listed as one of them, presiding over the duality of yin and yang, the beauty of all things and the splendour of mountains and rivers. The Imperial God of Earth had a MALE form before the Tang dynasty and acquired a FEMALE form during Wu Zetian's reign, and because Tian, sky, represents yang and Di, earth, represents yin, most people hold Houtu to be female. Wu Gang was a woodcutter who aspired to immortality but, through impatience and lack of dedication, was PUNISHED BY THE JADE EMPEROR, who sent him to the Moon Palace to fell a massive osmanthus tree that heals itself at every stroke; he shares the moon with Chang'e and the jade rabbit, THOUGH THEIR STORIES ARE ONLY LOOSELY CONNECTED. The sixty Tai Sui are each personified as a celestial general IN SERVICE OF the Jade Emperor, and the Three Officials are subordinate only to him. (secondary)
• shares the moon with: Chang'eNon-symmetric, written from this end only; chinese_change is a pre-existing record. The link is recorded WITH THE SOURCE'S OWN CAVEAT: he shares the moon with Chang'e and the jade rabbit, 'though their stories are only loosely connected'. It is a shared dwelling, not a shared story, and the record says so rather than implying more.Reference treatment of the Four Heavenly Ministers and the Jade Emperor's subordinates: the Four Heavenly Ministers are four of the highest sky deities of Daoism, subordinate only to the Great Jade Emperor, and they assist him in administering all phenomena of the universe; Houtu is responsible for all things on earth and is listed as one of them, presiding over the duality of yin and yang, the beauty of all things and the splendour of mountains and rivers. The Imperial God of Earth had a MALE form before the Tang dynasty and acquired a FEMALE form during Wu Zetian's reign, and because Tian, sky, represents yang and Di, earth, represents yin, most people hold Houtu to be female. Wu Gang was a woodcutter who aspired to immortality but, through impatience and lack of dedication, was PUNISHED BY THE JADE EMPEROR, who sent him to the Moon Palace to fell a massive osmanthus tree that heals itself at every stroke; he shares the moon with Chang'e and the jade rabbit, THOUGH THEIR STORIES ARE ONLY LOOSELY CONNECTED. The sixty Tai Sui are each personified as a celestial general IN SERVICE OF the Jade Emperor, and the Three Officials are subordinate only to him. (secondary)

Sources

• The woodcutter of the moon, whose endless felling of the lunar osmanthus gives the phrase 'to pluck osmanthus in the Toad Palace' — a saying for passing the imperial examinations; the tree is the yuegui, the Moon gui.: Reference treatment of Lu Ban, Wu Gang, Kui Xing, Houtu and Tai Sui: Lu Ban is the god of carpentry and furniture and the patron saint of builders and contractors, an innovator and engineer credited with inventions such as the saw and the shovel. Wu Gang is associated with the phrase 'pluck osmanthus in the Toad Palace', a chengyu connecting the lunar tree with passing the imperial examinations; the tree is now known in Chinese as the yuegui, the Moon gui. Kui Xing is a brilliant but ugly dwarf who, as the god of examinations, became the deity of scholars who took the imperial examinations; he is often depicted holding a writing brush to check off the most outstanding candidate, an official seal in the other hand, and balancing a bushel basket to measure the talents of examinees. Houtu, also Houtu Niangniang, the Earth Queen Lady, otherwise Dimu or Dimu Niangniang, Lady Mother Earth, is the deity of all land and earth in Chinese religion. In Chinese astrology Tai Sui means the Guardian God of the Year and governs all the fortunes of a particular year; there are a total of sixty Tai Sui, each personified as a celestial general in service of the Jade Emperor. (secondary)