Yaoji
Chinese · deity · mythic prehistory · Recorded classification
Chinese celestial goddess; sister of the Jade Emperor; mother of Erlang Shen by the mortal scholar Yang Tianyou. The Investiture-of-the-Gods stratum makes her the divine sister-aunt of the Heavenly Court; older Song Yu strata (3rd c. BCE Gaotang Fu) place her as the Wushan Goddess of the Yangtze gorges. Late Bao Lian Deng accretion identifies her as governing the realm of desire — the conceptual frame motivating her descent. Imprisoned beneath Mount Tao by the Jade Emperor; freed by Erlang Shen's axe-cleaving rescue.
Children
Domains
- celestial nobility
- desire realm
- wushan mountain
Powers
- Metamorphose into clouds, rain, and stone peak
Epithets
- 瑤姬 'Jade Lady' — the goddess of WushanGaotang fu (Song Yu); Shanhaijing tradition (primary)
- 雲華夫人 'Lady Cloud-Splendour' — her Daoist title at WushanYongcheng jixian lu (Du Guangting, Tang) (secondary)
- 巫山神女 Divine Maiden of Mount WuSong Yu, 'Gaotang fu' and 'Shennü fu' (primary)
- 朝雲 'Morning Cloud' (she becomes cloud at dawn, rain at dusk)Song Yu, 'Gaotang fu' (primary)
Relations
- sibling: Jade EmperorSister of the Jade Emperor (Yùhuáng Dàdì 玉皇大帝), making her son Erlang Shen the Heavenly Court's nephew.Investiture of the Gods; Erlang Baojuan (primary)
- lover: Yang TianyouDescended from Heaven to take the mortal scholar Yang Tianyou as husband — the union for which the Jade Emperor punished her by imprisonment beneath Mount Tao.Erlang Baojuan; Bao Lian Deng tradition (primary)