Kou Zhu
Kou Zhu is a fictional Song dynasty palace maid popular in legends related to Emperor Renzong of Song, Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Concubine Li and Empress Liu.
In the 19th-century novel The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, she is credited with saving the newborn Emperor Renzong: when her master Concubine Liu ordered her to strangle him and dump his body under a bridge, she gave the infant to the eunuch Chen Lin instead. Years later, she was tortured by Liu and her eunuch Guo Huai, and committed suicide. Still years later, Bao Zheng and his chief strategist Gongsun Ce "invoked her ghost" to extract a confession out of Guo.
She first appeared in writing in the play Chen Lin Carrying the Filigree Box at Gold Water Bridge from the 1615 volume Collections of Yuan Plays, in which she was simply called Palace Maid Kou without a given name.Worship
Dragon-Mother Temple, a temple in Xinshi District, Baoding, Hebei, China, is a temple dedicated to the worship of Kou Zhu. It was likely built in the Ming dynasty, but local folk legends claim it was built by Emperor Renzong to commemorate his savior.Portrayal in film and television
