Erlang Shen’s Family Tree

About Erlang Shen →

Family

• Yang Tianyou(parent),Yaoji(parent),Sanshengmu(sibling)— Marriage

  Yaoji descended to earth and married the mortal scholar Yang Tianyou, bearing Erlang Shen and Sanshengmu, a forbidden union that led to her imprisonment beneath Mount Tao by the Jade Emperor.

  ⚠ Erlang Shen’s parentage varies across traditions. The Baolianzhuanji names Yaoji and Yang Tianyou; the Journey to the West calls his mother the Jade Emperor’s sister without naming his father; some Sichuan traditions identify him as the son of the historical Li Bing.

Allied with

• Jiang Ziya

  Erlang Shen joined Jiang Ziya's coalition against King Zhòu of Shāng, wielding his three-pointed double-edged lance and seventy-three transformations as one of the most formidable warriors in the campaign to overthrow the tyrant.

• Mei Shan Brothers

  The Méi Shān Brothers ride with Erlang Shen as his sworn companions, their twelve hundred straw-capped soldiers forming the vanguard of every campaign he wages on Heaven's behalf.

• Xiaotian Quan

  Xiàotiān Quǎn fights at Erlang Shen's side in every campaign, a celestial hound whose bite turned the tide against Sun Wukong when no god could pin the Monkey King down.

Enemy of

• Chenxiang

  Chénxiāng fought his uncle Erlang Shen to free his mother Sānshèngmǔ from beneath Mount Hua, defeating the god who had once performed the same act of filial devotion for his own mother.

Serves

• Jade Emperor

  Erlang Shen answers the Jade Emperor's military summons from his domain at Guankou but refuses to attend court, serving Heaven's greatest warrior on his own terms — a defiance tolerated only because no other god can match his prowess.

Associated with

• Sanshengmu

  Erlang Shen imprisoned his sister Sanshengmu beneath Mount Hua for her forbidden love with the mortal Liu Yanchang, mirroring the Jade Emperor's earlier punishment of their mother Yaoji.

• Sun Wukong

  When Sun Wukong's rebellion shook Heaven, Erlang Shen answered the summons and met the Monkey King in a duel of seventy-two transformations — serpent against crane, fish against hawk — until Erlang Shen's truth-seeing third eye pierced every disguise.

• Yaoji

  Erlang Shen cleaved open Mount Tao with his axe to rescue his mother Yaoji, who had been imprisoned there by the Jade Emperor for her forbidden union with a mortal.