Jellyfish Goddess 水母娘娘 (泗州城)

This is my dream photo project for 2026 - 晚清時代的京劇 Peking Opera of the late Qing period… The concept is to recreate the exact scenes from the late 1800s based on actual historical paintings and those colored rice paper drawings sold to European tourists… Everything is original, including the backdrop which is painted… Took me months to plan this… Took Master Tang years to collect and repair the antique costumes…, and spending huge amounts of money buying useable antique clothings and accessories for this purpose. The costumes are then reassembled using old drawings and paintings from the same era. Not an easy feat because fabric degenerates over time and many artefacts were lost during the wars and the cultural revolution. Sourcing for exactly the same marching historical pieces to recreate the same look is a very tedious and expansive task. And then we need a makeup artiste who can recreate the Qing Dynasty style of face painting… The model is a real Peking opera actress picked especially to match the look. The scene here is from the Peking Opera Jellyfish Goddess 水母娘娘 (泗州城). Shuimu Niangniang (水母娘娘), is a water demon, spirit or goddess of Buddhist and Taoist origin in Chinese mythology. She is also identified with the youngest sister of the transcendent White Elephant (Buddha's gate-warder). According to Chinese folklore, she is responsible for submerging Sizhou (an ancient Chinese city located in today's Anhui Province) under the waters of Hongze Lake in 1574 A.D. and is currently sealed at the foot of a mountain in Xuyi District. However, different tales of Shuimu exist in different regions of China. For example, in Suzhou, Anhui she may be a demon goddess, while in Taiyuan, Shanxi it is believed that she was a woman who was gifted a magical whip by an old man. She has been described in some sources as a woman who can turn into a snake or dragon. According to Henri Dorés "Researches into Chinese Superstitions", in her 'human' form she carries a sword along with two buckets and has black hair with a youthful appearance.