The Xiang flowed into Dongting Lake through the ancient kingdom of Chu, whose songs in their worship have been recorded in a work attributed to Qu Yuan.

According to a somewhat later tradition, the Xiang goddesses were daughters of Emperor Yao, who were named Ehuang (Chinese: 娥皇; pinyin: É Huáng; Fairy Radiance) and Nüying (Chinese: 女英; pinyin: Nǚ Yīng; Maiden Bloom)[1] who were said to have been married by him to his chosen successor, and eventually emperor, Shun, as a sort of test of his administrative abilities: then, later, they became goddesses, after the death of their husband.

According to the mythological Ehuang-Nuying version, sometime in the twenty-third century BCE, before becoming divine goddesses, these two daughters of Emperor Yao were married to Shun at the planning of their father.

Yao, however, was attempting to recruit worthy persons into the service of his government, the main reason being to solve the problem of the ongoing Great Flood that was devastating China.

The arrival of the future Xiang River goddesses, Ehuang and Nuying provoked numerous problems: Shun's father had little or no liking for him, his step mother had no love for him, both wanted to seize his dowry of flocks of sheep and other cattle and huge measures of grains which he had received as a part of the marriage, and his half brother Xiang just wanted to kill him and take his wives and some of his other possessions for himself.

[4] The Xiang River goddesses (or deities) have been referenced in Classical Chinese poetry as far back as the early southern anthology the Chu ci, attributed to Qu Yuan.