Songzi Niangniang

"Songzi Niangniang" (送子娘娘, "The Maiden Who Brings Children"), also referred to in Taiwan as "Zhusheng Niangniang" (註生娘娘), is a Taoist fertility goddess. [citation|title=東洋神名事典 (Dictionary of Eastern Deities)|page=349|isbn=9867576829|publisher=奇幻基地|date=2005|last=Yamakita|first=Atsushi|last2=Kao|first2=Chan-tsan] citation|publisher=State University of New York Press|date=1989|last=Kinsley|first=David R.|title=The Goddesses' Mirror: Visions of the Divine from East and West|chapter=Kuan-Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy|isbn=0887068359] She is often depicted as Guan Yin herself in drawings, or alternatively as an attendant of Guan Yin; Guan Yin herself is also often referred to as "Guan Yin Who Brings Children". She is depicted as an empress figure, much like Xi Wangmu and Mazu. [citation|title=古代中国社会与文化十讲 (Ten Lectures on Ancient Chinese Society and Culture)|page=128|publisher=Tsinghua University Press|contribution=第七讲 从观世音菩萨的故事说到佛教中国化 (Lecture 7: From the stories of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva to the Sinicisation of Buddhism)|date=2000|last=Ge|first=Zhaoguang]

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