Queen Mother of the West

Xi Wangmu is among the most ancient goddesses in Chinese mythology. In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, she appears as a fearsome deity with a leopard’s tail, tiger’s teeth, and a piercing roar, wielding authority over plagues and divine punishments. By the time of the Mu Tianzi Zhuan (Annals of King Mu), she had evolved into a stately sovereign who hosted King Mu of Zhou at the Jade Pond. In the Han Wudi Neizhuan (Inner Biography of Emperor Wu of Han), she emerges as the supreme female immortal who bestows immortal peaches and imparts the Dao of eternal life. In Daoism, she is venerated as the supreme sovereign overseeing all female immortals across the Three Realms, co-governing the yin and yang energies with Dong Wanggong (the Lord of the Eastern Florescence). According to legend, on the 3rd day of the 3rd lunar month—the date of the famed Peach Banquet—she hosts all celestial deities and buddhas at her Jade Pond; consuming her immortal peaches grants eternal life. In popular belief, Xi Wangmu is revered as the benevolent Golden Mother who bestows blessings, grants children, and safeguards marital fortune; ancestral temples such as the Wangmu Palace in Jingchuan have sustained uninterrupted worship for over a millennium.