“Your two sisters, hitherto tainted with earthly pleasures, will gradually progress till they reach true perfection.

“Miao Ch’ing will have the title of Very Virtuous P’u-sa, the Completely Beautiful, Rider of the Green Lion.

“Miao Yin will be honoured with the title of Very Virtuous and Completely Resplendent P’u-sa, Rider of the White Elephant.

“King Miao Chuang is raised to the dignity of Virtuous Conquering P’u-sa, Surveyor of Mortals.

“Queen Po Ya receives the title of P’u-sa of Ten Thousand Virtues, Surveyor of Famous Women.

“Shan Ts’ai has bestowed upon him the title of Golden Youth.

“Lung Nue has the title of Jade Maiden.

“During all time incense is to be burned before all the members of this canonized group.”

CHAPTER XI

The Eight Immortals

Pa Hsien

Either singly or in groups the Eight Immortals, Pa Hsien, of the Taoist religion are one of the most popular subjects of representation in China; their portraits are to be seen everywhere—­on porcelain vases, teapots, teacups, fans, scrolls, embroidery, etc.  Images of them are made in porcelain, earthenware, roots, wood, metals.  The term ’Eight Immortals’ is figuratively used for happiness.  The number eight has become lucky in association with this tradition, and persons or things eight in number are graced accordingly.  Thus we read of reverence shown to the ‘Eight Genii Table’ (Pa Hsien Cho), the ‘Eight Genii Bridge’ (Pa Hsien Ch’iao), ‘Eight Genii Vermicelli’ (Pa Hsien Mien), the ‘Eight Genii of the Wine-cup’ (Tin Chung Pa Hsien)—­wine-bibbers of the T’ang dynasty celebrated by Tu Fu, the poet.  They are favourite subjects of romance, and special objects of adoration.  In them we see “the embodiment of the ideas of perfect but imaginary happiness which possess the minds of the Chinese people.”  Three of them (Chung-li Ch’uean, Chang Kuo, and Lue Yen) were historical personages; the others are mentioned only in fables or romances.  They represent all kinds of people—­old, young, male, female, civil, military, rich, poor, afflicted, cultured, noble.  They are also representative of early, middle, and later historical periods.

The legend of the Eight Immortals is certainly not older than the time of the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280), and is probably to be assigned to that of the Yuean dynasty (1280-1368).  But some, if not all, of the group seem to have been previously celebrated as Immortals in the Taoist legends.  Their biographies are usually arranged in the order of their official eminence or seniority in age.  Here I follow that adopted in Hsiu hsiang Pa Hsien tung yu chi [32] in which they are described in the order in which they became Immortals.

Li T’ieh-kuai