In the Han dynasty, the Queen Mother of the West was an emissary who guided humans into heaven. But in the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, she becomes the younger sister of the Jade Emperor; when she throws down her jade hairpin it becomes a river across the sky (the Milky Way) keeping the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl apart.
在漢代，主母娘娘是導引人上天的使者，在牛郎織女神話中，王母更成了玉皇大帝胞妹，丟出玉簪化成天河，阻礙牛郎織女相逢。