The Xiangshuishen or Xiang River Goddesses are goddesses of the Xiang River in Chinese folk religion. The Xiang flowed into Dongting Lake through the ancient kingdom of Chu, whose songs in their worship have been recorded in a work attributed to Qu Yuan. According to the Shanhaijing, the Xiang River deities were daughters of the supreme deity, Di. According to a somewhat later tradition, the Xiang goddesses were daughters of Emperor Yao, who were named Ehuang and Nüying who were said to have been married by him to his chosen successor, and eventually emperor, Shun, as a sort of test of his administrative abilities: then, later, they became goddesses, after the death of their husband.
E Huang and Nü Ying, Qing dynasty, China
Spotted bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides f. lacrima-deae Keng & Wen), also known as Chinese: 斑竹; pinyin: bānzhú; "spotted bamboo" or Chinese: 湘妃竹; pinyin: Xiāngfēi zhúl=Xiang consort bamboo.
"Autumn Moon over Dongting Lake", the lake where the Xiang River Goddesses island shrine was located. By Yokoyama Taikan, from a set of Eight Views of Xiaoxiang.
Portrait of the Goddess and the Lady of the Xiang (1517) by Wen Zhengming
The Xiang River is the chief river of the Lake Dongting drainage system of the middle Yangtze, the largest river in Hunan Province, China. It is the second-largest tributary in terms of surface runoff, the fifth-largest tributary by drainage area of the Yangtze tributaries. The river flows generally northeast through the provinces of Guangxi and Hunan, its tributaries reaching into Jiangxi and Guangdong.
Xiang River in Changsha.
Picture of Xiang River in Changsha, the Orange Island Bridge is on the left and Orange Isle (Juzizhou) is in front.