Gao Lanying () is a character in the Chinese Ming dynasty novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi). She is the wife of Zhang Kui and helps defend Mianchi for the Shang dynasty.
In Fengshen Yanyi
Gao Lanying is the wife of Zhang Kui, the Shang commander defending Mianchi. She joins him in fighting the Zhou forces and uses two sabers and a red gourd containing 49 Solar Needles (太阳神针). The needles can temporarily blind her opponents.
Gao Lanying fights Deng Chanyu in a duel outside Mianchi. After Deng Chanyu pretends to retreat, Gao Lanying pursues her and is struck in the face by one of Deng's Five-Colored Stones. Gao Lanying returns to Mianchi, where she later uses the Solar Needles against the Zhou forces.
After Yang Jian is captured by Zhang Kui, Gao Lanying proposes killing him by using blood from a black chicken and black dog, mixed with excrement, and restraining him with a talisman. She then cuts off his head. Yang Jian survives through his transformation abilities, and the blood and filth fall on Zhang Kui's mother instead, killing her. Gao Lanying later fights Deng Chanyu again. Nezha eventually kills her with the Qiankun Circle during the battle at Mianchi.
Gao Lanying is named the Taohua Star () in the final investiture by Jiang Ziya.
In traditional art
Gao Lanying appears as a subject in studies of traditional Taiwanese architectural woodcarving based on Investiture of the Gods. A master's thesis on such woodcarvings includes the episode in which Zhang Kui and Gao Lanying are captured at Mianchi and examines the selection and identification of characters represented in the carvings.
Folk religion Gao Lanying is identified with the Taohua Star in the final investiture list of Investiture of the Gods. In traditional Chinese astrology systems, most notably Zi wei dou shu (Purple Star Astrology) and Bazi (Four Pillars of Destiny), the "Peach Blossom" is a highly significant celestial body associated with romance, physical charm, sexual attraction, and marriage.
In later folk tradition, Gao Lanying and Zhang Kui have also been identified as the Kitchen Grandmother (灶王奶奶) and Kitchen God (灶王爷), respectively.
References