Named Hé Qióng Immortal Woman He or He Xiangu (何仙姑 Hé Xiān Gū in pinyin

Pinyin

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...

 or Ho Hsien-ku in Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles

Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...

) is the only female deity among the Eight Immortals

Eight Immortals

The Eight Immortals are a group of legendary xian in Chinese mythology. Each Immortal's power can be transferred to a power tool that can give life or destroy evil. Together, these eight tools are called "Covert Eight Immortals" . Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang Dynasty or...

. (The gender of her fellow Immortal Lán Cǎihé

Lan Caihe

Lan Caihe is the least defined of the Eight Immortals. Lan Caihe's age and sex are unknown. Lan is usually depicted in sexually ambiguous clothing, but is often shown as a young boy or girl carrying a bamboo flower basket.Stories of Lan's behaviour are often bizarrely eccentric...

 is somewhat ambiguous).

She was from Yong Prefecture (永州 Yǒngzhōu) (today Linglin County (零陵縣 Líng Lín Xiàn), Hunan

Hunan

' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

) in Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

, or from a wealthy and generous family in Zēngchéng County (增城縣), Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

.

Legend

Hé Xiān Gū was the daughter of Ho T‘ai, of the town of Tsêng-ch‘êng, in the prefecture of Guangdong

At birth she had six long hairs on the crown of her head. When she was about 14 or 15, a divine personage appeared to her in a dream and instructed her to eat powdered mica

Mica

The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...

, in order that her body might become etherealized and immune from death. So she swallowed it, and also vowed to remain a virgin.

Later on by slow degrees she gave up taking ordinary food.

The Empress Wu

Wu Zetian

Wu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...

 dispatched a messenger to summon her to attend at the palace, but on the way there, she disappeared.

One day during the Jīng Lóng (景龍) period (about 707

707

Year 707 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 707 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* Empress Gemmei succeeds to the Japanese...

 CE), she ascended to Heaven

Heaven

Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

 in broad daylight, and became a Hsien (Taoist Immortal

Eight Immortals

The Eight Immortals are a group of legendary xian in Chinese mythology. Each Immortal's power can be transferred to a power tool that can give life or destroy evil. Together, these eight tools are called "Covert Eight Immortals" . Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang Dynasty or...

).

From Lieh Hsien Chuan, ii, 32, 33

Depiction

Her lotus

Nelumbo nucifera

Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...

 flower improves one's health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

, mental and physical. She is depicted holding a lotus flower, and sometimes with the musical instrument known as Shēng

Sheng (instrument)

The Chinese sheng is a mouth-blown free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes.Traditionally, the sheng has been used as an accompaniment instrument for solo suona or dizi performances. It is one of the main instruments in kunqu and some other forms of Chinese opera...

 (笙), or a fènghuáng

Fenghuang

Fenghuang are mythological birds of East Asia that reign over all other birds. The males are called Feng and the females Huang. In modern times, however, such a distinction of gender is often no longer made and the Feng and Huang are blurred into a single feminine entity so that the bird can be...

 bird to accompany her. She may also carry a bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 ladle

Ladle (spoon)

A ladle is a type of spoon used to scoop up and serve soup, stew, or other foods. Although designs vary, a typical ladle has a long handle terminating in a deep bowl, frequently with the bowl oriented at an angle to the handle to facilitate lifting liquid out of a pot or other vessel and conveying...

or fly-whisk.