Xi Wang-mu (�¼‰¤•ê), (also known as Hsi Mang Mu Nian Niang, Jing Mu, Xi Lao.) in Chinese mythology, literally "Royal Mother of the West," is the ruler of the western paradise and goddess of immortality. She is the highest goddess in the Taoist pantheon, and the embodiment of feminine element yin. She is the daughter of the god Yu-huang and her husband is Mu Gong. She is sometimes seen with her companion, Ma Gu, who is distinguised by her extraordinarily long finger nails and waist length hair.

Originally she was a ferocious goddess with the teeth of a tiger, who sent plagues down upon the world, but Daoism redeemed her, making her into a benign deity.

She is sometimes portrayed as a young beautiful woman wearing a royal gown, sometimes riding a peacock. Other times she is described as a fair and gentle old woman with a beautiful singing voice. Her emblem animal is Feng-huang, or pheonix, the symbol of immortality.

Her spectacular nine story palace of jade lies in the mythical Kun-lun Mountains in a hidden cave, near the Lake of Jewels, in western China. It is surrounded by a wall of over a thousand miles long and of pure gold. The male immortals reside in the right wing and the female immortals reside in the left wing of this palace. In her garden she cultivates the sacred peach tree of immortality. This peach tree blossoms and forms only one peach every three thousand years, which then takes another three thousand years to ripen. When it is ripe, Xi Wang-mu invites the immortals to a feast to celebrate her birthday and to partake to the miraculous peach which bestows another lease of immortality.

Wearing her beautiful headgear, she sits on the "dragon-and-tiger" throne that symbolizes the unity and harmony of yin and yang. On her right is a three-legged bird that seeks food for her. On her left is the "Da Xing Bo," always ready to carry out any orders from Xi Wang Mu. On the right a rabbit holds the magical herb of immortality for the Goddess Queen. In the upper right corner stands the nine-tail fox, who is her runner. The hideous toad beneath the throne is the incarnation of Lady Chang, who was punished for her crime of stealing the immortality pill from her husband Yi who received it from Xi Wang Mu in recognition of his triumph of saving mankind by shooting nine suns from the sky. The couple seated at the lower right has come in search of this magical medicine of immortality.