According to legend, she was born in Linshui Town, Gutian County, Fujian Province in the Tang Dynasty, so she was called Mrs. Linshui. There are many other honorifics, such as Mrs. Big Milk, Mrs. Chen, Queen Chen, Mrs. Shunyi, Notre Dame Shuntian, Notre Dame Fairy, Mrs. Nantai Zhuhua, Notre Dame and so on. Fujian folks often call them nannies and nuns. People in southern Zhejiang call it "the Fourteenth Empress of Chen". In Taiwan Province Province, she is one of the wives of three mistresses and is called Chen Dainai by the people. The legend is summarized as follows:
On the Empress Dowager's Flat Peach Festival, Guanyin competed with other immortals in Tianzhu, pointing to a dripping well, which was eaten by Chen Chang's wife, Ge Shi, in Linshui Village, Gutian, Fujian. On the fifteenth day of the first month of the Tang Dynasty (766), she gave birth to a daughter, who was born with a strange fragrance and was named Jinggu. Born on 14th night, it is also called Jinggu, and its common name is 14th. Guanyin lost her white hair by mistake, fell into the world, turned into a white snake, and killed creatures. Chen Chang's family inherited the Maoshan method, and Yang Chen, a fellow countryman, went out to exterminate insects for the people. Chen couldn't come because of gangrene on his back. He sent his second son Fatong and his third son Fatong to clear the snake, but Fatong was swallowed by the snake and escaped. At the age of seventeen, Jinggu vowed to go to Lushan Mountain to study law in order to get revenge. When I came back, I passed through Wenzhou, Pingyang and other places, collecting demons, catching monsters and killing people along the way. Later, I heard that the white snake essence harmed the good people in Fujian. Jinggu built a Dharma Hall in front of the White Snake Cave, laid Lushan Mountain as the Dharma Hall, cut the white snake into three sections, and the snake turned into a woman to escape. One year there was a drought and all the seedlings withered. Chen Jinggu was pregnant in March, so she was born in Chen Fu and went to beg for rain. If it really rains, it will benefit everyone. At this time, the white snake disguised as Jinggu returned to the house and stole the fetus and ate it. Jinggu flew back from the clouds and chased him angrily. The white snake fled into the Linshui Cave (now Gutian County), and Jinggu sat on the head of the snake, making it never leave the cave. Finally, Chen died at the age of 24 by sitting on a snakehead. Chen Jinggu's belief originated in the Tang Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, the legend of Chen Jinggu had further developed and had a relatively complete story. Legend has it that Guanyin cut her nails and was reincarnated as golden light because of the mortal snake demon. She went to Fuzhou to cross the Chen family and gave birth to Jinggu. Her brother and sister were taught spells by strangers, and when they caught a demon in Linshui Village, Gutian County, they were trapped by snake spirits. When Jing Gu was seventeen years old, she went to Lushan Mountain to study Buddhism alone. Later, she saved the two phases and cut the snake demon into three sections. But the devil still flew to other places to continue to do evil. Jinggu vowed: "You can preach evil, so can I." Later, because it was difficult to save the Queen of Tang Dynasty, she was named "Mrs. Guo Xian, the British Emperor in Dutian Town". The above legend not only retained the image of midwife, but also revealed Chen Jinggu's inner world of killing snakes and exorcising demons. From the birth of Jinggu, the study of dharma and exorcism were centered on "removing snakes", which laid the basic framework for the development of legends and gradually transitioned from midwives to exorcists.
The Qing Dynasty is the development period of Chen Jinggu's legend. Through folk oral inheritance, it also enriches the plot of "snake hunting" and "snake cutting", and describes many stories of Chen Jinggu's elimination of other demons, emphasizing her exorcism function. Among them, what the Qing people want is "Don't Remember Fujian", which can be said to be the representative work of Chen Jinggu's legend. He synthesized, rendered and enriched the folklore, and became the first long legendary novel reflecting Chen Jinggu's deeds in China. During this period, after word of mouth, the legend of Chen Jinggu became more tortuous and richer in content, and Chen Jinggu's image of exorcism became more and more prominent. Therefore, there is a folk saying in Fujian that Mazu is literate and Jinggu is martial. The image of Chen Jinggu described in the southern Zhejiang female mantra is also "taking off the Luo skirt and wearing a goddess skirt, wearing an iron helmet and armor, holding a magic knife Mo Ling and riding an iron horse to save the good people." At this time, Fujian, Taiwan Province, Zhejiang and other places have built many ladies' temples and held various competitions. During the Daoguang period, the Lady's Temple near the water was very popular, and "Eight Min worships more". People who beg for children, rain and plague are praying "to be like a ring." It can be seen that at that time, Chen Jinggu's functions and godhead were much broader than before, and she had evolved into a multifunctional goddess.
In the late Republic of China, Chen Jinggu's belief became more prosperous in the eastern coastal areas of China. People from all over the country have come to the birthplace of Chen Jinggu's belief-from Fuzhou to Gutian-to worship or respectfully invite pilgrims to go back and build temples. There are two routes for the spread of Chen Jinggu's belief: one is to the south, that is, to southern Fujian, and to cross the sea to Taiwan Province Province, Southeast Asia and North America; The second is northward, that is, first spread to northern Fujian, and then spread from northern Fujian to neighboring southern Zhejiang.
The southern part of Zhejiang borders on the northern part of Fujian, and it is also a dialect area of Min dialect. Chen Jinggu's belief gradually moved south and spread rapidly in southern Zhejiang, covering more than ten counties. According to historical records, there were several floods in Wenzhou during the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, especially in the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty. Many coastal residents in Wenzhou have died, and Minnan dialect is still spoken in many places in southern Zhejiang. Chen Jinggu's belief was also introduced into southern Zhejiang. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, only Yongjia, nanxi river and Ren Gang passed through Shangtang and Xiatang, and there were temples or shrines for Chen Siniang along the 70-mile waterway. There is a saying in folk bamboo slips that "the word spirit is everywhere" Among the large and small local temples in Oujiang River Basin, Chenniangniang Temple has the most names. In Wenzhou, there are Taiyin Palace, Niangniang Palace, Guangying Palace, Yongrui Palace, Kunyuan Palace, Fengnan Palace and qixia temple. Every year on the fifteenth day of the first month or the tenth day of October in the summer calendar, barren women often go to the palace together and ask Chen Shi Niang for a child to rest. There is also the custom that women compete for rice, flour and peaches. There is Haisheng Palace by the river, and Chen Fourteen is the goddess. In order to commemorate her, people often ask drummers to sing "Niangniang Ci" by the river. In the 1940s, there were hundreds of Taiyin Palace dedicated to Chen Jinggu in Ruian County alone. Pingyang has Shunyi Hall, commonly known as Taiyin Palace, also known as Linshui Palace, one in the north of Jingming Temple, one outside the north gate, one in the small bridge and one in Renbai Bridge. In the south of Pingyang, there are three temples: Ferry, Sundian and Xianggang, which are dedicated to Chen Fourteen, and the temples are still there. There is a Lady Shunyi Temple in Lishui County, south of He Mingjing in Xitaipingfang, the county seat, dedicated to Chen Jinggu. The original temple is magnificent and the incense is flourishing. In old Chuzhou (now Taizhou), on the 14th day of the first month, many women came here to worship, drink bath water and beg for children. There are fourteen temples of Chen in qingtian county, all over the country, all of which are dedicated to Poseidon. Other She people, such as Taishun, Cangnan and Wencheng, also have this belief, commonly known as "wet nurse", "nun" and "big milk". For example, in Dingxian County, Fujian Province, she villages such as Fuliu, Ruiyun and Caibao all have their mothers' families, and some she families also write the words "Sacrifice to Chen, Lin and Li" in red paper with incense burners under their skirts. In the past, every time I begged for rain, cure diseases and children, I had to ask the empress to bless me. At the same time, among the She people, "Maid Song" and puppet show "Lady Play" are popular. By the 1980s, there were more than 30 Niangniang Palace rebuilt or reconstructed in the suburbs of Wenzhou. In 200 1 year, the author went to Dongtou County and Chashan Town in Wenzhou to participate in the local people's activities of offering sacrifices to the 14th Queen Chen, and watched "Ode to the Queen" sung by Ryan artists.