Momu (Chinese: 嫫母) is a Chinese goddess and was a legendary empress as the fourth wife of the Yellow Emperor.[1][2][3] According to tradition, she invented the mirror, in the 27th century BC.[4][5]
Momu is one of the "Five Ugliest Women of Ancient China" along with Zhongli Chun, Meng Guang, Huang Yudying and Lady Ruan.[6] Metaphorically juxtaposing Xi Shi and Momu as two rare extremes, Huainan Zi states that Xi Shi was pleasant to look at even without cosmetics, while Momu was horrible to look at even with them. The Yellow Emperor granted her the official position of "Fang Xiangshi" (方相氏) and used her appearance to drive away evil spirits.[7]
- ^ SK, Lim. Chinese Imperial Women (2010 Edition - EPUB). Asiapac Books Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-981-229-994-9.
- ^ Yang, Lihui; An, Deming; Turner, Jessica Anderson. Handbook of Chinese Mythology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533263-6.
- ^ Monumenta Nipponica. Sophia University.
- ^ "嫫母與軒轅作鏡". Huaxia (in Chinese). 17 November 2009.
- ^ Berkowitz, Alan J. Patterns of Disengagement: The Practice and Portrayal of Reclusion in Early Medieval China. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3603-9.
- ^ Xunzi: The Complete Text. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16931-6.
- ^ Hsu, Pi-ching. Feng Menglong's Treasury of Laughs: A Seventeenth-Century Anthology of Traditional Chinese Humour. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-29323-6.
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