Yang Jian

deity sky Chinese single tradition · 4

Yang Jian is the son of the goddess Yunhua, and nephew of the legendary Jade Emperor. Erlang is the deification of Yang Jian. This portrayal as Yang Jian is most common in popular media.

↻ synthesized from 4 sources

When

First attested
1368 CE
Attested period
960 – 1644
Historical notes
Cult spread during the Northern Song dynasty.

Relationships

manifests as
Erlang
teacher of
Golden Fleece Lads
allied with
Nezha
syncretized with
Erlang Shen, Huashan Erlang

Expand to full subgraph →

Sources

Source passages

“In later stories, Erlang is the deification of Yang Jian, son of the goddess Yunhua, and nephew of the legendary Jade Emperor. This portrayal as Yang Jian is most common in popular media.”

#21224 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001

“From within the demon's stomach, Yang Jian, who is protected by his divine nature, begins to wreak havoc, causing the monster unbearable pain. He seizes the pig's heart and liver, threatening to tear them out.”

#21635 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“their relationship is vehemently opposed by Huayue Sanniang's elder brother, Yang Jian (Erlang Shen). With the aid of a magical lotus lantern...He rejects their marriage and punishes Huayue Sanniang”

#29609 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

“Yang Jian split the mountain to rescue his mother Yunhua...Legend has it that Yang Jian, while pursuing the sun, traversed this region...the famous 'Legend of Erlang Shen Splitting the Mountain'”

#29849 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5