Baxian Legend
01 · Historical Records
The Eight Immortals legend first appears in the Taiping Guangji; through folk transmission and the embellishment of men of letters of successive ages its content grew ever richer, and in the Ming it was basically fixed by the novel The Eastern Travel Record of the Origin of the Eight Immortals, which for the first time formally established the protagonists as the eight immortals Zhongli Quan, Zhang Guolao, Han Xiangzi, Iron-Crutch Li, Cao Guojiu, Lü Dongbin, Lan Caihe and He Xiangu.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Penglai in Shandong is a historic cultural city beside the hills and the sea, and its natural conditions and human environment gave birth to rich and varied Eight Immortals legends. The Eight Immortals legend first appears in the Taiping Guangji, and through folk transmission and the embellishment of men of letters of successive ages its content grew ever richer. The Eight Immortals drank wine on the Penglai Pavilion in the wind, their spirits soaring, and each displayed his or her own powers to cross the sea, which gave rise to a conflict with the third son of the Dragon King of the East Sea; afterwards, through the mediation of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, the two sides ceased fighting and made peace. The legend of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea organically fuses the distinctive immortal culture with a strong worldly human feeling; it is a much-loved legend of hills and sea, and its spirit of pioneering in the face of danger profoundly influences the broad masses. The eight immortals respectively represent different strata of secular society, and the legend, with its rich humanistic colour and regional style, provides rich material for folk literature and art, arts and crafts and other art forms and has relatively high artistic value.
The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea
The legend of the eight immortals each displaying their powers to cross the sea and clashing with the third son of the Dragon King of the East Sea.
The Eastern Travel Record of the Origin of the Eight Immortals
The novel by Wu Yuantai of the Ming that formally established the eight immortals.
The Penglai Pavilion
The hill-and-sea scenic site connected with the Eight Immortals legend.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Eight Immortals legend has Penglai in Shandong among its core areas of circulation and is closely bound up with such hill-and-sea scenery as the Penglai Pavilion and Danya mountain; the story of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea arose from the natural environment of the Bohai strait and, with folk belief and sea-route communication, spread to the coastal areas and even abroad.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
As time passes and with the impact of modern means of transmission, the image of the Eight Immortals among the people is gradually becoming blurred, and the task of protecting and transmitting the legend has become very urgent. The legend of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea fuses the distinctive immortal culture with a strong worldly human feeling, and its spirit of pioneering in the face of danger profoundly influences the broad masses.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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