Taiyin Xingjun

Who she is

Taiyin Xingjun belongs to Chinese religion as the goddess of the moon. Believers also call her the Moon Goddess, the Moon Maiden, Taiyin Niangniang or the Moonlight Bodhisattva, and Taoists treat her as the counterpart of the Buddhist figure Candraprabha. In Taoist thought the word Taiyin names one of the Four Symbols and stands for laoyin, or old yin, in the pairing of yin and yang. Some legends say she came from the right eye of Pangu, while the sun deity Taiyang Xingjun came from his left. Modern images of her show a woman in court dress, holding the moon.

Old texts and stories

The Book of Documents, in a chapter called the Canon of Yao, treats the sun, the moon and the stars as spirits of the sky, and ancient China gave each light sacrifices of its own. A Qing period novel, Ba Xian Dedao Zhuan by Wugou Daoren, makes her the Jade Emperor's third daughter and ruler of the Moon Palace, chosen for her solitary nature. The Ming poet Liu Ji wrote that Jielin governs the moon and Yuhua the sun. She also appears in Journey to the West and in Fengshen Yanyi, and the Yunji Qiqian ties the Queen Mother of the West to the moon and to Taiyin.

Temples and households

Worship is uncommon in mainland China, but Taiwan keeps her in temples and at home. The Guan Shengdijun Temple in Daxi, more than a hundred years old, has a shrine to her, and Tiantan Temple, one of the earliest in Taiwan, shows her as a wooden tablet carrying her name rather than a statue. She is often honoured next to the Jade Emperor, together with Taiyang Xingjun, the sun deity; the two are also seen as a couple. At Mid-Autumn, households put a table in the courtyard after dark and bow to the moon.

Food and offerings

Mid-Autumn food is bound up with her worship. In Taiwan, some of what is offered goes to the ancestors first, and to the land god as well, with mooncakes, rice vermicelli and taro among the dishes. The courtyard table holds mooncakes, fresh fruit and red candles, and incense is burned while prayers are said. Taoist temples gave her a longer title, Yuefu Suyao Taiyin Xingjun. During the Qing dynasty the festival carried both Taoist and Buddhist marks, with the Moonlight Bodhisattva and the Jade Rabbit honoured beside her.

Fate and children

In Taiwanese folk belief she is a guardian of women and children. She differs from Yue Lao, the god of matchmaking: people go to her about their own inner life and about how they stand with others. Those in sales, for instance, may bring cosmetics when they pray for better relationships and greater popularity, and she is believed able to end a relationship that harms someone. The True Scripture of Taiyin Xingjun is read in Taiwan for children who are thin or often ill. That practice joins fasting, incense at the full moon and ten recitations.

How Taiyin Xingjun is kept

Worship is mostly a household matter. In Taiwan a family waits for nightfall, puts out a table for incense in the courtyard and sets red candles, mooncakes and fresh fruit on it, then burns incense and bows towards the moon. Some of the offerings go to the ancestors first, and to the land god as well. For a child who is often unwell, a devotee fasts, burns incense when the moon is full and reads the True Scripture ten times. At temples such as the Guan Shengdijun Temple in Daxi and the Kaigi Jade Emperor Palace in Tainan, people ask about their fate and their relationships.

When and where

Mid-Autumn is her great day, on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, which usually falls in September or October. The devotional readings that go with the True Scripture belong to the brightest nights of any lunar month, the fifteenth and the sixteenth. Because the Chinese calendar follows the moon, both dates shift against the western year.

The moon drew worshippers in ancient China, but Taiyin Xingjun is seldom honoured in mainland China now. The living practice is in Taiwan, at temples in Daxi and Tainan and in ordinary homes at Mid-Autumn, where she is often set beside the Jade Emperor and the sun deity Taiyang Xingjun.

What Taiyin Xingjun means

For her devotees she is the moon's own deity rather than a being who merely lives there: some traditions hold that Chang'e is her incarnation, and others keep Chang'e as a resident of the palace. She is believed to watch over women and children and to govern both a person's inner life and their dealings with others, so prayers to her concern health, popularity, work and family peace. She is also said to help someone leave a relationship that does them harm.

Days Taiyin Xingjun is marked

Questions people ask about Taiyin Xingjun

See also

PretaOfferings and rites for spirits enduring deep hunger across Asian traditions.OvooA stone cairn on a peak or pass, circled by travellers and honoured in sky worshipQingming FestivalA spring custom of sweeping family graves and honouring ancestors across East Asia.Ghost FestivalA full-moon night in the seventh lunar month for feeding ghosts and guiding souls home

Good reading and sources

• Taiyin Xingjun on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-11.