Nüba, Goddess of Drought

Nüba appears in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Great Wilderness—Northern Section: During the great battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou on the plains of Jizhou, Chiyou summoned the Wind Lord and Rain Master to unleash torrential storms. The Yellow Emperor then dispatched the celestial maiden Nüba to halt the rain; once the downpour ceased, Chiyou was slain. Yet Nüba exhausted her divine power and could no longer ascend to heaven; wherever she settled, rain failed to fall. Consequently, the Yellow Emperor exiled her to the region north of the Red River. As the Yellow Emperor’s daughter, Nüba was originally a celestial maiden—a heroic deity who rendered decisive aid in battle. Yet because her presence brought calamitous drought, she was feared and driven away by humankind, gradually transforming from a revered goddess into a malevolent spectre—giving rise to the later folk practice of ‘Yan Sheng’ (ritual expulsion), wherein effigies of the drought demon were fashioned and ritually banished during dry spells. Nüba thus embodies the agrarian people’s profound dread and helplessness before drought: simultaneously grateful for her rain-halting service and terrified of her drought-wielding power—making her one of the earliest fallen heroic deities in Chinese mythology.