Baimei Shen () is Chinese god for prostitution and brothels. On her first assignment with a client, a prostitute was supposed to make sacrifice to him; According to a later tradition, the client was expected to do the same when he first visited a brothel.

Appearance

Baimei Shen has many resemblance with

Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...

, the god of war, with the exception of his white eyebrows and red eyes. He is mounted on a horse and carries a sword.

Legends

Baimei Shen is often identified with Dao Zhi 盜跖 (Robber Zhi), a slave rebel leader of the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

. He had 9,000 followers, who marched at their will through the kingdom, assailing and oppressing the different princes. They dug through walls and broke into houses; they drove away people's cattle and horses; they carried off people's wives and daughters. Dao Zhi's legends were documented in many pre-

Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...

literature, such as in the works of

Zhuangzi Zhuangzi may refer to: * ''Zhuangzi'' (book) (莊子), an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables, one of the foundational texts of Daoism **Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; als ...

Mencius Mencius ( ); born Mèng Kē (); or Mèngzǐ (; 372–289 BC) was a Chinese Confucianism, Confucian Chinese philosophy, philosopher who has often been described as the "second Sage", that is, second to Confucius himself. He is part of Confuc ...

, and Xunzi. However his identification as prostitution god was just begin since

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, It was recorded in chapter 72 of Xiaozan 笑赞 (written by

Zhao Nanxing Zhao may refer to: * Zhao (surname) (赵), a Chinese surname ** commonly spelled Chao in Taiwan or up until the early 20th century in other regions ** Chiu, from the Cantonese pronunciation ** Cho (Korean surname), represent the Hanja 趙 (Chinese ...

), chapter 8 of Zhan Gui Chuan 斩鬼传, as well as other Ming-Qing literatures. Baimei Shen is also identified with

Ling Lun Ling Lun () is the legendary founder of music in ancient China. In Chinese mythology, as described in the Lüshi Chunqiu (in ), Ling Lun is said to have created bamboo flutes which made the sounds of many birds, including the mythical phoenix. "In ...

, the legendary music founder in

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

era. Since prostitution in ancient China was often associated with music, the founder of music was considered the god of prostitution.

References

{{Reflist Chinese gods