Mang of Spring

Jumu was the son of Shaohao, named Chong. He assisted Taihao Fuxi in governing the eastern realm and served as the Wood Director—the official responsible for the Wood element within the Five Phases system. After his death, he was enshrined as the deity of spring, as recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Book of Rites: Monthly Ordinances. His iconography depicts him with a human face and avian body, riding two dragons, and holding a compass, embodying his dominion over spring and the east. Since the Zhou dynasty, emperors have personally led court officials in welcoming spring at the eastern suburbs on the day of the Start of Spring, offering sacrifices to Jumu to pray for an abundant year. In later folk tradition, communities held spring-welcoming rites and seasonal thanksgiving festivals, erecting effigies of Mangshen beside the clay Spring Ox and performing the ‘whipping-the-spring-ox’ ritual to spur agricultural activity; thus Jumu evolved into the divine patron of springtime and farming encouragement, with spring sacrifices continuing unbroken across successive dynasties.