Yunü

Yunü (Chinese: 玉女; lit.: 'Jade Girl or Jade Maiden') is a goddess in Chinese mythology and Chinese traditional religion who, along with her male counterpart Jintong (Gold Boy), are the close servants of the Jade Emperor and Zhenwudadi.[1]

Legends

Jade Girl is also a common designation for a beautiful woman or, in Daoism, for a fairy or immortal. Jade Girl and Golden Boy have appeared in a large number of stories since the Song and Yuan dynasties and have become important figures in Chinese mythology. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, there was the legend of the Southern opera Golden Boy and Jade Girl and Yuan dynasty writer Jia Zhongming's zaju Golden Boy and Jade Girl.[2]

According to the Shenyijing, it is told that the Jade Girl and her companions loved to play touhu (投壺) "dart vase" (pitchpot game), a Chinese game in which arrows or darts are thrown into a vase. Following some local folklore, there are several mountain peaks (Yunü feng 玉女峯) of that name, like a summit in the Huashan range, the Huashan Yünu (華山玉女), and one in the Wuyi Range (武夷山).

In the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, Jade Maiden is a servant maid of the Jade Emperor in Heaven. She once fell in love with a star god called Kui Mulang and decided to elope with him. However, she didn't want to ruin Heaven's pureness, so she decided to reincarnate as a human. She was reincarnated into the human world as Baihuaxiu (百花羞), the third princess of the Kingdom of Baoxiang (寶象國). Meanwhile, Kui Mulang sneaked to Earth and waited for her and then became a demon lord Yellow Robe. The demon kidnaps the princess (though she has no memory of her existence as a Jade Maiden), marries her for 13 years, and together they have two children.[3]

  • Literary works also often refer to handsome and beautiful couples who match up with each other as a Golden Boy and Jade Girl.
  • Yunü is also the name of the plant Usnea spec. (nüluo 女蘿), a species of lichens.
  • During the Spring Festival, pictures featuring the combination of a Golden Boy and a Jade Girl, both of who are usually seen dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, can often be found on the doors of common households. Characterized with red round faces and bright sweet smiles, the two figures are considered as good omens that are capable of bringing fortune and happiness for the whole family all year round.
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References
  1. "金童 玉女的传说 少年修道的童男童女 - 神话传说网". Shenhuagushi (in Chinese).
  2. ""金童玉女"故事是怎麼來的？". 雪花台灣 (in Chinese). 31 July 2018.}
  3. "奎木狼、黄袍怪为何比牛郎织女幸福？". 知乎专栏 (in Chinese). 29 August 2017.

Sources
  • Li Jianping 李劍平, ed. (1998). Zhongguo shenhua renwu cidian 中國神話人物辞典 (Xi'an : Shanxi renmin chubanshe), 144.
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