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Paper short abstract

This paper examines the evolving iconography of the Queen Mother of the West’s (Xi Wangmu) three blue birds, from their origin in the Classic of Mountains and Seas to later traditions, tracing how human imagination and views of divine animals shaped their visual representation across history.

Paper long abstract

In the ancient Chinese text Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing), three blue birds (san qingniao) appear as companion animals who bring food to the goddess Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wangmu). Over the centuries, these birds developed into rich cultural symbols. In classical poetry and fiction, they came to embody the arrival of spring, function as envoys of the immortal realm, and serve as messengers of love. Beyond literature, the blue birds were visualized in diverse artistic media—such as Han dynasty pictorial stones, traditional paintings, and woodblock prints—each rendering them with distinct stylistic and symbolic nuances. Their imagery did not remain confined to antiquity: across later dynasties, they were continually reinterpreted in both elite and popular art forms, shaping perceptions of divine intermediaries. Even today, the motif persists in East Asian art, publishing, and mass media, where it is reimagined in contemporary contexts and visual languages.

This paper examines the historical evolution of Queen Mother of the West and her three blue birds as a recurring iconographic theme. By tracing their transformations across text and image, it explores how human imagination has conceived of the divine companion animal—not only as mythological attendant but also as a symbolic mediator between the mortal and the transcendent realms.