Ma Gu is a female immortal in Daoist and popular Chinese tradition. She is strongly associated with long life, transformation, and the changing landscape. Art often presents her as a graceful young woman, even when the stories emphasize that she has witnessed immense spans of time.
Mulberry fields and the sea
A well-known account has Ma Gu say that she has seen the Eastern Sea turn into mulberry fields several times. The saying became an image for vast change, since sea and farmland exchange places over ages. It does not describe a dated geological observation. Its purpose is to measure an immortal’s perspective against a human lifespan.
Ma Gu is also linked with banquets of the Queen Mother of the West and with offerings connected to longevity. In paintings she may carry a basket containing peaches, fungus, flowers, or a wine jar. Artists combine these auspicious objects in different ways, so an attribute is not always evidence for one exact episode.
A figure with many local forms
Some traditions associate Ma Gu with particular mountains, temples, or family names. Stories of her fingernails, healing power, or special wine also differ. It is safer to describe these as strands of lore than to force them into one biography.
Ma Gu belongs beside the Eight Immortals and Zhang Guolao, but she is not usually counted as one of their standard eight members.