Taibai Jinxing

Planet Venus Deified

God of the morning star and heaven’s kindly messenger in the Journey to the West.

Taibai Jinxing is the deified planet Venus, the morning star called Qi Ming and the evening star called Chang Geng. In fiction he appears as a kindly white-bearded elder who carries heaven’s edicts, most memorably when he invites Sun Wukong to the celestial court. The name Taibai also clung to the poet Li Bai, said in legend to be the star itself sent down to earth.