ABSTRACT
On the Double Ninth Festival – the ninth day of the ninth month on the lunar calendar, or 17 October 1580 – an extraordinary story unfolds in Zhitang 䚜⠀ village, Taicang ⣒ᾱ district, near the prosperous city of Suzhou in the Jiangnan, or Yangzi delta region. Over a hundred thousand people have gathered to witness how a twenty-one-year-old woman from an elite family ascends to heaven, undergoes transformation into a goddess and attains immortality. She is the ‘faithful maiden’ zhen nü 屆⤛ or virgin widow Wang Daozhen 䌳䆦䛇 (1558-80) – better known under her religious name Tanyangzi 㙯春⫸ or Master Tanyang – the daughter of Hanlin 侘㜿 Academician, President of the Board of Rites, Minister of Personnel and Grand Secretary Wang Xijue 䌳拓䇝 (1534-1611, jin shi 1562), one of the highest ranking officials in the civil service of the Wanli emperor.
