Tianyugong
In his palace in heaven, the Jade Emperor lives with his wife the Jade Empress, Tianshang Shengmu or Mazu (Yu-huang sheng-mu or Ma-tsu) and their large family. Prominent members include his nephew Yang Shen (Yang Tsien), otherwise known as the Second Lord of Quality, Erlang Shen (Er-lang Tsien) whose Celestial Dog - Tiangou (T'ien K'ou) - chases away evil spirits. One of the Jade Emperor's secondary wives is the Horse Head goddess, who is believed to care for silkworms, producers of the precious Chinese commodity, silk. One of the god's daughters is Miss Seventh or Shi Quning (Ts'i-ku-niang), who is appealed to by young women in order to reveal the identity of their future husbands
The heavenly palace of the Jade Emperor is managed by Wang the Transcendent Official, otherwise know as Lingquan (Ling-Kuan), who also protects mortals from evil spirits. One of his functions is keeper of the palace gates where he stands guard wearing armour and wielding his heavy staff to ward off unwelcome visitors. He also runs errands for the Jade Emperor such as punishing wrongdoers and righting wrongs. The palace also has an extensive staff of attendants, ministers, officials and lesser gods paralleling the unwieldy bureaucracy of the Mortal state.
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