X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Jade Emperor


Celestial bureaucracy

As the name suggests, it is organized similarly to a government administration (patterned after political structures found in the Han dynasty), with the Jade Emperor as the highest-ranking official to whom the other deities must report.

Chinese zodiac

To get to the meeting called by the Jade Emperor, they had to cross a river to reach the meeting place.

Drunken Monkey

In the story, the Monkey King stole all the peaches of the "spiritual peach tree" of the Heavenly King Mother and drank all the wine reserved for fairies and immortals who were invited to the birthday party of the Heavenly King.

Joss paper

Gold spirit money (jin) is given to both the deceased and higher gods such as the Jade Emperor.

Tai Sui

In the Chinese zodiac, there are sixty (originally 12 corresponding to the Earthly stems, later popularly believed to be 60, one for each stem-branch combination) heavenly generals (:zh:六十甲子神列表) who assist the Jade Emperor in taking charge of the well-being of the Mortal World.

The Silver River

The Jade Emperor, Lord of Heaven, dreams of a chaos that plunges heaven and earth into darkness.


Hell money

The obverse usually bears an effigy of the Jade Emperor, the presiding monarch of heaven in Taoism; his signature, romanised as Yu Wong or Yuk Wong; and the countersignature of Yanluo, King of Hell (閻羅).


see also

A Supplement to the Journey to the West

The Jade Emperor of heaven initially wishes to punish Sima for his blasphemy, but the embodiment of the Planet Venus talks him into letting the scholar act as the King of Hell for twelve hours to test his worth.

The Fionavar Tapestry

With all of their options exhausted, the Jade Emperor and the authorities of Heaven appealed to the Buddha, who arrived in an instant from his temple in the West.

The Palace of Eternal Life

Meanwhile, moved by the plight of Lady Yang's forlorn soul, the Spinning Damsel persuades the Jade Emperor of Heaven to permit Lady Yang to become an immortal in the paradise of Penglai.