Deity East Asian traditions
Jade Emperor
玉皇上帝 zh 玉皇大帝 ja 옥황상제 ko
The highest god of many Taoist sects, overseeing the universe through administration of a celestial bureaucracy mirroring ancient and medieval China's
A god is known
by the accounts
that name it.
Accounts kept apart
Family
The family of Jade Emperor
Parents, consorts and children as the accounts give them. Choose a consort to see the children the stories give the two.
Accounts differ about a god’s family. Where they name different parents, the tree sets them side by side instead of choosing one.
The family as a list · 1
Kinship in an account 1
What this means
Parentage as a named source tells it. Not an independently established biological relationship, and different accounts disagree.
Does not imply an independently established biological relationship · agreement between accounts
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
Later works
Later works that name Jade Emperor
Written in 1500 CE or later, and not religious texts: works that retell or borrow the figure, not accounts of it.
What this means
Sorted out of the accounts by each work’s own recorded date on the source clock, and by its record not marking it as a religious text: the split is worked out here, not stated by any source. A religious text of any date stays among the accounts. None of these supplies the earliest account.
Also in films, games and series: Journey to the West
Connections
How Jade Emperor connects
Grouped by the kind of relationship, because a successor is not a son and a shared symbol is not an influence.
Identification 3
What this means
One figure treated as another in some context. Not literal identity in all contexts, and usually a claim by a third party.
Does not imply literal identity in all contexts · that either tradition made the identification
Imported from Wikidata unless a tile says otherwise. Nothing here has been read by an editor.
-
identified with God principal object of faith in monotheistic religions, a divine entity that created and typically supervises all existence - identified with Shangdi The High God, the supreme or single God of ancient Shenism, some salvationist religions like Yiguandao, and Protestant Christianity in Chinese translation
- identified with Tian The Chinese conception of Heaven as a cosmic force, a high god under the Zhou, and the realm of the Taoist celestial bureaucracy
Sources
Sources and evidence
Where every statement on this page comes from, and how each one stands.
5 statements on this record
- 5 Imported Taken from Wikidata as it stands. Nobody here has read it.
Only this record’s own statements. What other records say about it is counted on theirs.
Three layers, three licences
- Text
- Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted, not merged
- Pictures
- Wikimedia Commons · each file’s own terms
Review
Not yet read by an editor here. Every relationship on this page is an import.
Disagreements are kept, not resolved, and a count of sources is not a confidence score.
Keep exploring
More from East Asian traditions
Daoism, Confucian practice, Chinese folk religion, Shinto and Korean tradition.