Shuimu: The Water Demoness

Shuimu is a water demoness or witch of Buddhist and Taoist origin. She was mentioned in Chinese mythology and identified with the youngest sister of the transcendent White Elephant. According to folklore, she was responsible for submerging Sizhou under waters of lake Hongze in 1574 A.D. She is currently sealed at the foot of a mountain in Xuyi District.
There are different myths about this spirit. In Taiyuan Shanxi, she is a woman who was gifted a magical whip by an old man. In Mandarin, she is referred to as The Old Mother of Waters, Sea Goddess and Fountain Goddess.

Appearance:
Shuimu takes the form of a woman who can transform into a snake or dragon. She has a youthful look with black hair and is seen carrying a sword along with two buckets.

Mythology
According to Chinese folklore, the Jade Emperor had raised an army to capture Shuimu and deprive her of her powers for submerging Sizhou into the lake. However, the army couldn’t catch her as she tricked them and continued to wreak havoc in the city.

One day, as she was carrying two buckets of water near the city gate, Li Laojun suspected that she was going to attack Sizhou, so he sent a donkey to drink the water in the bucket. However, the donkey couldn’t finish the water because the bucket contained water from five great lakes. When Shuimu discovered Li Lao’s scheme, she became angry and overturned one of the buckets of water and this caused a massive flood that submerged the city.

The Capture of Shuimu
According to the legend, Kuan-yin Pusa, after submerging the city, The Monkey King tried to capture her, but she continued to slip through his fingers. The King decided to ask for help from Guanyin, (the Goddess of Mercy) who disguised herself as a food vendor. On that day, Shuimu was famished after being constantly chased, so she went to the vendor to get food.

Meanwhile, Guanyin, the sorceress, was waiting for her with two bowls of vermicelli. After eating, the sorceress turned the vermicelli into chains that wrapped around the demon’s entrails and ripped off her magical powers. Shuimu became so weakened and was chained for all time at the bottom of a deep well at the foot of a mountain in Hsü-i Hsien province. Even up to this day, it is believed that whenever the water is low in the well, the chains with which Shuimu was bound, can be seen.

Shuimu and Her Magical Whip
In China, there are different tales about Shuimu. One of the stories says that a peasant woman was given a magical whip by an old man and whenever she needed water, she would simply knock her jug with the whip and water will spring forth.

However, her mother in law discovered this magical whip and decided to do it herself. Unfortunately, the water didn’t stop flowing and the area became the spring Nanlao Quan, a source of the Jin River. In the 17th century, Shuimu Lou temple was built, and this temple contains a mighty statue of Shuimu.