Cao Gugu () is a figure venerated at Huiji Temple in Yuanping, Shanxi. Local tradition identifies her as a 16-year-old girl who helped build the temple and later died there while sitting in meditation. Her image is enshrined at the temple as a flesh-bodied bodhisattva.
Legend According to local accounts, Cao Gugu was from Lianjiagang Village. When Huiji Temple was being built, she helped the workers by carrying water. She reportedly rose before dawn each day and carried enough water for the workers for the day. The work is said to have affected her health, and she died at the temple after its construction was completed. Local tradition gives her age at death as 16.
The image is located in the Wenshu Hall (文殊殿) of Huiji Temple. It has a clay exterior with human bones inside. According to accounts of the image, part of the clay covering around the knee deteriorated and exposed the bone underneath, revealing that human remains were preserved inside the sculpture.
Local people venerate Cao Gugu as a flesh-bodied bodhisattva. Some local accounts also say that village women regard her as a spiritually efficacious figure.
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