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Meaning & History
From a combination of the characters 宓 (fu, a surname) and 妃 (fei, meaning “concubine, consort”). More commonly known as Luoshen (洛神), Fufei is the goddess of the Luo River in Chinese mythology, first appearing in the Chuci (楚辞) or Elegies of Chu as the wife of the river god Hebo. Later she became a muse for Chinese poets, with the 2nd-century “Goddess of the Luo River” (洛神赋) being her most famous representation. In it, the author Cao Zhi briefly encounters and falls in love with her before they are separated forever. Her origins are unknown, but some sources identify her as a daughter of Fuxi.