China
This entry was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Emily Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Niu Lang & Zhi Nu
The god and goddess of love. Zhi Nu was the goddess of weaving for the gods and daughter of Shangti. Every day she wove the beautiful robes the gods wore and looked down on earth from her place among the stars and wished she could visit. She was finally granted permission by her father and went to earth where she left her clothes by the banks of a stream and went swimming. A cowherd named Niu Lang saw her and fell in love with her so he stole her clothes so she could not run away from him. When Zhi Nu came out of the water she was outraged that her clothes were gone but when Niu Lang explained himself she fell in love with him. She forgot all about her home in the heavens and her duties as divine weaver and stayed on earth with Niu Lang.
They were very happy together, every day they were more in love, and they had many children. Shangti was not pleased, though, and neither were the other gods and so soldiers were sent to bring Zhi Nu back home. Niu Lang tried to follow but Shangti threw a wall of stars across his path and stopped him; these stars are known on earth as the Milky Way. Once a year, magpies fly from earth to the Milky Way and form a bridge the two can cross to be with each other on the evening known as the Seventh Night of the Seventh Moon.
This became a very popular story referenced by writers and poets in many different eras of China’s history. The Lady in the famous poem, Song of Everlasting Sorrow, references this story toward the end when she is on the island in the afterlife. The myth was the basis for the Festival of the Seventh Night of the Seventh Moon which officially was dedicated to women’s art in sewing and weaving but unofficially was a night for romance. Zhi Nu is the star Vega in the constellation of Lyra, and Niu Lang is the star Altair in the constellation of Aquila, separated by the Milky Way except for once a year.