Helen Glazer, Chinese God of Literature

Touch the Stars detail: Chinese God of Literature and His Court

The Chinese mapped and named constellations, but at certain points of their history, rather than forming pictures by connecting the dots and noting their resemblance to certain forms, they labeled the individual stars in a particular region of the sky as specific figures or objects belonging to a group.

In the third millenium B.C. and afterward, this group represented Wen-chang, the God of Literature, seated on an emperor's throne before his court. Before him stand K'uei, Minister of Literary Affairs of the World; Chu-i, Mr. Red Coat, Minister Who Looks After the Welfare of Students; Chin-chia, Mr. Gold Armor, a minister who recruits talented students to serve the government and Kuan-ti, God of War, whose job it was to prevent wars. Rounding out the retinue are a court jester and Wen-Chang's pets.

Legend has it that K'uei was a gifted student with a deformed face who won a prize for his literary examinations, but when the emperor was to present his award, he registered shock at K'uei's appearance. Humiliated, K'uei leaped from a cliff into the sea, but was rescued by a kindly sea monster and conveyed to his place in his heavens, where he was given his ministerial role.