I mentioned in this post about possible Celestial Water Monkeys; that one Ming-dynasty opera (written nearly 200 years before the Jttw novel) depicts the "Wuzhiqi" (a simian water demon) as a sister to Sun Wukong.

@journeytothewestresearch did an article or two on this particular play, and how there's a possibility of there being multiple "Great Sages" throughout folklore.

The play itself is pretty bawdy given that it's writer was known for adult comedy; with "Sun Xingzhe" being a bit of horndog (only stopped by the circlet), based on a popular cryptid of the time infamous for stealing women.

Other details include;

Red Boy (true name being Ainu’er) being the son of the Bodhisattva Manjushri and the ancient demon-mother-goddess Hariti (comparable to the Echidna of Greek mythology).

The nine skulls on Sha Wujing's neck representing the nine previous lives of the Golden Cicada. (cool af)

Zhu Bajie being afraid of nothing (hah!) but Erlang's dog Xiaotian Quan.

Princess Iron Fan being unmarried, to which Sun Xingzhe offers to be her husband (guess people were shipping them even back then, explains Goku and Chichi).

Tripitaka returning to Chang'an without his pilgrim buddies, instead the Buddha gives him four bodyguards of his own for the return trip. The demons aren't allowed go back East. Kinda sad.

So it's best to take the characterisation with a grain of salt, though it has some cool ideas.

The family sound off is presented as this:

"We are five brothers and sisters: my elder sister is Lishan Laomu [離山老母, Venerable Mother of Mount Li], my second sister Wuzhiqi Shengmu [巫支祇聖母, Holy Mother Wuzhiqi]; my older brother is Qitian Dasheng [齊天大聖, Great Sage Equaling Heaven], I myself am Tongtian Dasheng [通天大聖, Great Sage Reaching Heaven], and my younger brother Shuashua Sanlang [耍耍三郎]"

Wukong introduces himself as "Tongtian Dasheng [通天大聖, Great Sage Reaching Heaven]". But his older brother has the title of Qitian Dasheng [齊天大聖, Great Sage Equaling Heaven].

Another later story mentioned in the article has the "Cinnabar Cloud Great Sage/Danxia Dasheng"; a red-furred staff-wielding monkey who acts as an antagonist towards the main goddess character. Curiously is described as both a peach thief, a survivor of Laozi's furnace, and a frequent identity-stealer (possible Six Eared Macaque?). He is punished for being so naughty by getting neutered (ouch).

And of course there is the God of Thunder Leigong aka "Sire/Duke of Thunder", who is often depicted as a celestial monkey/ape working as the muscle and executioner for the Jade Emperor. Became immortal after eating a Peach dropped by a fox demon (Jiuweihuli?) arguing with Celestial soldiers. Is married to the Goddess of Lightning Dianmu, who lights up the sky to help her husband see his targets. He is said to be one of Five Brothers, leading to more connections.

So theres;

Lishan Laomu/"Venerable Mother of Mount Li" - Eldest sister/sibling. Curiously named after a popular goddess of the same name said to be equal in power to Nüwa, and possible Mother Nature itself. Said goddess appears in Jttw as a companion of Guanyin, and helps out Wukong when the rest of the hang were poisoned.

Wuzhiqi Shemu/"Holy Mother Wuzhiqi" - Second elder sister. Her name is associated with an aquatic flood demon with a stretchy neck - bound to the bottom of mountain/sea by Yu the Great (original owner of the Ruyi Jingu Bang) with iron chains.

Qitian Dasheng/"Great Sage Equaling Heaven" - older brother. Has the traditional "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" title. Makes me think of Dasheng from HIB.

Tongtian Dasheng/"Great Sage Reaching Heaven" - second brother aka the version of Sun Wukong/Xingzhe in the play. Is closer to "Quagmire" than Sun Wukong tbh.

Shuashua Sanlang/"Playful Third Brother" - youngest brother. Not much is said about him. His name literally means "Playful Third Brother". Might be the baby of the family.

+Danxia Dasheng/"Cinnabar Cloud Great Sage" - red-furred Wukong double. Got neutered for being naughty.

+Leigong/Duke of Thunder - Actual thunder god.

This gang of monkeys siblings is likely what led to the depiction of the "Four Stalwart Generals" who are Wukong's closest monkey companions. But now I'm imagining an universe/au where the Stalwarts are all similarly orphaned celestial monkeys of deferring elements who adopted one another.

Danxia/Cinnabar Cloud is an odd mix of both Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque. Possible kid? Maybe inspired ideas of Wukong being red furred. His shenanigans even remind me of Monkey from the netflix Monkey King (2023).

It's like, a dollar on Kindle, but anyway.

I was reading the section about Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West (pg 35), and it said that her consort was Dongwanggong, the King Father of the East, NOT the Jade Emperor. While this is likely just the kind of inconsistency that happens to a mythology over eons and vast distances, but it got me thinking about a story from my other source:

The story of the Queen of Heaven, Tian Hou/Tian Fe Niang Niang (pg 104). Now, being described as the Queen of Heaven one would expect her to be consort to the ruler of heaven, the Jade Emperor, but I couldn't find any sources claiming that. They all said the Jade Emperor's consort was Xiwangmu.

I also had Nu Wa, an early earth goddess, on the mind because she shows up in both books. Her parentage is a bit wobbly because of how old she is, with some sources claiming her to be the daughter of the Jade Emperor, while others say she's the child of Huaxu (another powerful goddess) and Leigong, the god of thunder, along with her twin brother/husband Fu Xi.

Now, taking all this scattered and messy mythology I thought: how can I clean this up so it fits in a modern story (like LMK) in a way that makes sense? Here's what I came up with:

The Jade Emperor and Xiwangmu are both on their second marriage. JE's first wife was Tian Hou, XWM's first hubby was DWG. Both couples split for some reason before JE and XWM got together.

Nu Wa is a child from XWM's first marriage with DWG, making her JE's stepdaughter rather than his biological daughter, while Fu Xi is still the child of Huaxu and Leigong because I know gods are different, but incest is still yuck.

I know trying to iron out mythology is a pointless endeavor because they were never meant to hold together in the first place, but I think I did pretty well here. Thoughts?

Hello!

 We don’t have a resident Chinese mythology expert at the moment, but we managed to pull together some interesting information.

Now, we couldn’t find anything about a human that would use a mirror in this manner. However, you have to remember that Chinese deities can be referred to as “heroes” or “immortals”, which might lead to some confusion. Moreover, some characters become deified with time - it appears Li Jing is a great example of that: while his story is predominantly a story of a human, he is also venerated as a god.

So, we found one character who uses a mirror as a weapon. Her name is Leizi and she’s also called Dianmu (“Mother of Lightning”). She’s a goddess of lightning and the wife of Leigong, the god of thunder (who also was born human, by the way). She uses two mirrors to send lightning across the sky. Hypothetically, she can also use these mirrors to punish bad people, but we couldn’t find any direct evidence of it.

At the genesis of the myth, Leigong was responsible for both thunder and lightning, and the figure of Dianmu emerged later, to support the yin-yang concept, Leizi being the yin. We couldn’t find how Leigong used to produce lightning though, and if there were any mirrors involved.

Since Chinese deities can also be called “heroes” and the language lacks gender markers, it’s possible that Dianmu was somehow involved in the story you mentioned.

Mirrors themselves are often considered mystical and potent objects, and a lot of superstitions are tied to them. In Japanese culture mirror is a symbol of truth. Yata no Kagami (Mirror of Eight Ta) is one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan and venerated as the mirror that got Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, to come out of her cave; the mirror is a symbol of wisdom or honesty (depending on the source). Chinese culture takes a similar approach, and mirrors are perceived as a symbol of honesty and also as a protection from evil spirits, all because of their reflective properties.

-the Chorus and the Muses

Further reading:

Leizi on Wikipedia

Leizi on Baidu (Chinese)

Happy Qixi 2024!