Legends
Different traditions give the Wushan goddess different origins and identities. Some traditions identify her as Yaoji (瑶姬), while Daoist sources identify her with Yunhua (云华), a daughter of the Queen Mother of the West. Later local traditions also connect her with the legends of Wushan County.
Yaoji
The Classic of Mountains and Seas contains an early story about an emperor's daughter, but does not call her Yaoji. In the Zhongshan Jing (中山经), it says that at Guyao Mountain (姑媱之山), an emperor's daughter named Nüshi (女尸) died and was transformed into a plant called yaocao (䔄草). The text describes the plant as having yellow flowers and says that consuming it would make a person attractive.
A later tradition preserved in the Water Classic Commentary identifies the Wushan goddess with Yaoji. The account describes her as a daughter of the Heavenly Emperor who died before marriage and was associated with Wushan.
Yunhua and Yu the Great
The Daoist Yongcheng Jixianlu (墉城集仙录), compiled by Du Guangting during the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, identifies Yunhua as the twenty-third daughter of the Queen Mother of the West and gives her the personal name Yaoji. While returning from a journey to the Eastern Sea, Yunhua visits Wushan, where she encounters Yu the Great while he is controlling the floods. At Yu's request, she orders her attendants to give him a book for summoning divine beings and sends several supernatural beings to help him cut through the rocks and clear the waterways.
The same tradition describes Yunhua as a Daoist immortal who had studied under the Three Primes and received the title Yunhua Shanggong Furen (云华上宫夫人). Later Wushan traditions identify her with the Miaoyong Zhenren (妙用真人) worshipped at the local shrine.
Local traditions
Local tradition in Wushan gives another story for the origin of Goddess Peak. According to one account, Yaoji became a mortal woman and married a fisherman named Jiang Sheng (江生). Jiang Sheng disappeared while fishing during a storm, and Yaoji waited for him from the highest peak. She eventually became a stone figure identified with Goddess Peak.
Another local tradition associates the Book-Giving Platform (授书台), below Feifeng Peak, with Yaoji's meeting with Yu the Great. According to the Chongqing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, Yaoji and her companions returned from the Eastern Sea and encountered Yu helping the people of the Three Gorges with flood control. She then gave him a book concerning the control of the floods at the platform, which became known as the Book-Giving Platform.
In literature and poetry
The Gaotang fu (高唐赋) and Shennu fu (神女赋), traditionally attributed to the Warring States-period poet Song Yu, established the literary association between the goddess, the King of Chu, and the clouds and rain of Wushan. In the Gaotang fu, the goddess tells the king that she becomes the morning clouds and evening rain (旦为朝云，暮为行雨). The Shennu fu focuses on her appearance and encounter with the King of Chu.
The story continued to appear in Tang poetry. Du Fu refers to the goddess in his poem Yonghuai guji (咏怀古迹), while Liu Fangping wrote a poem entitled Wushan Shennü (巫山神女), which describes the goddess in connection with the clouds, rain, and the King of Chu.
Li Bai refers to Yaoji in his poem Ganxing (感兴). He writes of "Yaoji, the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor" (瑶姬天帝女) and her transformation into morning clouds. The poem also refers to her entering a night dream and ends with the words "虚传宋玉文", questioning the transmission of the story associated with Song Yu.
Li Bai also mentions the King of Chu and the goddess in Guan Yuan Danqiu zuo Wushan pingfeng (观元丹丘坐巫山屏风), a poem describing a painted screen depicting Wushan. The poem includes the image of the "Chu King and goddess" (楚王神女) and refers to the Yangtai story.
Liu Yuxi wrote Wushan Shennü miao (巫山神女庙), a poem concerning the shrine of the Wushan goddess.
The Tang poet Li Xun also used the story in his ci Wushan yiduan yun (巫山一段云), which describes the goddess shrine and evokes the traditional story of the King of Chu and the goddess.
Worship
A shrine to the Wushan goddess was established at Wushan. Historical sources identify the shrine as Ningzhen Temple (凝真观) and associate it with the title Miaoyong Zhenren (妙用真人). The Southern Song scholar Lu You recorded visiting Ningzhen Temple and the shrine of Miaoyong Zhenren, whom he identified as the figure commonly known as the Wushan goddess.
Historical gazetteers describe the shrine as standing opposite the Wushan peaks, with the Twelve Peaks visible from the temple. They also record local traditions concerning rituals and legends associated with the shrine, including a tradition that Yu the Great received a divine text at a stone platform behind the temple.
