Yu Huang (玉皇)

Chinese for 'Jade Emperor'. Name of the most important god of the Chinese Taoist pantheon, who rules over heaven and earth, just as the mortal emperors once ruled over China. In ancient China, the term Emperor meant 'Son of Heaven', one appointed by Heaven to rule the people. According to Chinese mythology the Jade Emperor was initially the assistant of Yuan Shi Tian Zun, the Divine Master of the Heavenly Origin, the supreme beginning and the creator of heaven and earth, who personally picked Yu Huang as his successor. Yu Huang was born as crown prince of the kingdom of Pure Felicity and Majestic Heavenly Lights and Ornaments, on the ninth day of the first lunar month, a day Taoist temples now hold a ritual in his honor. At birth he emitted an amazing light that filled the entire kingdom and he attained Golden Immortality after 1,750 trials of cultivating Tao, each lasting for 120,976 years and after another one hundred million years of cultivating Tao, he finally became the Jade Emperor. His picture is printed on ming bi hell bank notes.