Lady Yin
Fictional character
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lady Yin (Chinese: 殷夫人; pinyin: Yīn Fūrén) is a character in the 16th-century Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi. She is the wife of Li Jing and they have three sons, Jinzha, Muzha, and Nezha. She played a prominent role in the nurture of Nezha. In Xinchu Erlang Pishan Jiumu Quanduan (新出二郎劈山救母全段; "Erlang Shen Splitting the Mountain to Rescue His Mother"), a Qing dynasty folk storytelling manuscript, she is said to be the second daughter of the Jade Emperor.[1] However, in the Fengshen Yanyi novel and subsequent adaptations, she is just a normal human woman of the Shang dynasty (Yin Dynasty).
Deity (in Xinchu Erlang Pishan Jiumu Quanduan)
| Lady Yin | |
|---|---|
| Investiture of the Gods character | |
A sculpture of Lady Yin as depicted in Ne Zha, located in the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone | |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Human (in Investiture of the Gods) Deity (in Xinchu Erlang Pishan Jiumu Quanduan) |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | Jade Emperor (father) (in Xinchu Erlang Pishan Jiumu Quanduan) |
| Spouse | Li Jing |
| Children | Jinzha, Muzha, Nezha, Li Zhenying (in Journey to the west) |
| Home | Chentangguan |
Her full name is not given in the Fengshen Yanyi, only her surname, Yin. She is called Lady Suzhi (素知夫人) in the Ming dynasty religious book The Collection of Gods in Three Religions.
She is indirectly mentioned as the "wife of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King" in ancient south asian Buddhist texts and Agni Purana, Solar Dynasty.
Origin
Lady Yin in Chinese mythology was attributed as the wife of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing. They had three sons: Jinzha, Muzha, and Nezha. She may have origins with Bhadra or Riddhi in the Vedic and Budhhist scripts.
She did not directly appear in texts prior to the Ming dynasty. It is in Ming dynasty works, such as The Collection of Gods in Three Religions, The Four Journeys, and other novels like Investiture of the Gods, where she is first mentioned, making these some of the earliest sources to reference her.[2]
In The Collection of Gods in Three Religions, she is referred to as "Suzhi Furen" (素知夫人). Journey to the West also mentions the Heavenly King's wife and states that they have a seven-year-old daughter, "Li Zhenying". In both The Collection of Gods in Three Religions and Journey to the West, she seems to have originally been a deity.[2]
In the earlier periods of folk customs, the Heavenly King's wife was only mentioned briefly, with few references. It wasn't until the Qing dynasty that a prevailing belief emerged, identifying Lady Yin as the earthly incarnation of the Jade Emperor's second princess.
According to the Qiang myth, the Heavenly Father Mu Bi Ta had three daughters: the eldest married the Dragon King, the second married a celestial god, and the third, Mu Jie Zhu, had descendants with a mortal who became the ancestors of the Qiang people. The first official genealogical records of the Jade Emperor in Han China were based on the divine lineage of the Qiang people. This narrative was later intertwined with the tale of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King. The second princess's marriage to a celestial god eventually evolved into a story where she marries the Heavenly King, thereby associating Lady Yin with the second princess.[2]
In Fengshen Yanyi
In the 16th Century Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi, Lady Yin lived during the end of the Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin Dynasty. Throughout the Nezha birth arc in Fengshen Yanyi, Lady Yin was pregnant again after three years and six months without giving birth. One day when she was sleeping, she dreamed the deity Taiyi Zhenren put something into her arms; she woke up with pain in her abdomen and gave birth to a meatball in the incense chamber. With a round like a wheel, Li Jing slashed at meatball with a sharp sword and out jumped a child.[3][4]
She would always be known to reflect many acts of kindness to her third son—no matter what he truly did. Thus, Lady Yin would be seen protecting Nezha at many times throughout the novel, even when he performed horrendous actions such as the killing of Ao Guang's third son, Ao Bing. After Nezha had given his own body as a sacrifice to Ao Guang in order to protect his family, Lady Yin would end up erecting a temple atop the Green Screen Hill as a stationing area for Nezha's spirit (this was because Nezha continuously pleaded to her in her sleep). According to legend, the temple built atop the hill by Lady Yin, now known as Nezha Palace, is located on Cuiping Mountain in Yibin City, Sichuan Province. It is recognized as the only Nezha ancestral temple in China.[5]
Worship
In certain Taoist traditions and folk beliefs, Lady Yin evolved from a literary figure into a folk deity within local religious practices. She is worshiped as a deity, especially within the Nezha belief system. The Jinlong Temple in Taitung City worships Marshal Jinzha as its main deity, and the temple also enshrines his parents, Lady Yin and the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King.[6] Additionally, Lady Yin is enshrined as Yin Furen of Cuiping Mountain (翠屏山殷夫人) at the Yangshan Buddhist Hall (阳山佛堂) in Tainan City, Taiwan, as well as at the Shenxian Taizi Temple in Puli, Taiwan.[7]
In popular culture
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- Lady Yin appears as a major supporting character in the animated feature film Ne Zha, a film loosely based on Investiture of the Gods, and its 2025 sequel Ne Zha 2. Lü Qi voices Lady Yin in both films. In the English dub of Ne Zha, she is voiced by Stephanie Sheh, and in the English dub of Ne Zha 2, she is voiced by Michelle Yeoh.[8] Both films broke multiple box-office records upon their initial releases, with the latter film becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in China, the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, and the fifth highest-grossing movie of all time.[9][10]
- R. F. Kuang's novel series The Poppy War trilogy has Lady Yin as a secondary character who is the mother of four children: Jinzha, Muzha, Nezha and Mingzha, the former three being the name of the children in the original myth.