The worship of mother goddesses for the cultivation of offspring is present all over China, but predominantly in northern provinces. There are nine main goddesses, and all of them tend to be considered as manifestations or attendant forces of a singular goddess identified variously as the Lady of the Blue Dawn (Bìxiá Yuánjūn , also known as the Tiānxiān Niángniáng , Heavenly Immortal Lady, or Tàishān Niángniáng , Lady of Mount Tai, or also Jiǔtiān Shèngmǔ , Holy Mother of the Nine Skies): or Houtu, the goddess of the earth. Bixia herself is identified by Taoists as the more ancient goddess Xiwangmu, The general Chinese term for goddess is nǚshén, and goddesses may receive many qualifying titles including mǔ ( mother), lǎomǔ ( old mother), shèngmǔ ( holy mother), niángniáng ( lady), nǎinai ( granny).