Anqi Sheng安期生

Style & Daoist names

Anqi, Old Man of a Thousand Years, Master Anqiu

Period

Qin

Dates

? — ?

Role

Fangshi (Master of Methods)Immortals, Transcendents

Birthplace

Fuxiang, Langya (present-day Shandong)

Life

Anqi Sheng, a fangshi (master of methods) of the Qin dynasty, was a native of Fuxiang in Langya, traditionally said to have been a disciple of the Elder of the Riverbank. The 'Biography of Yue Yi' in the Records of the Grand Historian records that he transmitted Huang-Lao learning to Mao Xigong, making him an early transmitter of the Huang-Lao school. The 'Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices' in the Records of the Grand Historian records Li Shaojun telling Emperor Wu of Han: 'I once traveled upon the sea and met Anqi Sheng, who ate jujubes as large as melons. Anqi Sheng is an immortal, who passes freely through Penglai' — whereupon Emperor Wu dispatched fangshi to seek Anqi Sheng across the sea. The Biographies of Exemplary Immortals relates that when Qin Shi Huang made his eastern inspection tour, he conversed with Anqi Sheng for three days and three nights and bestowed upon him gold and jade worth many millions, all of which Anqi Sheng left behind as he departed, leaving a letter that said, 'seek me a thousand years hence beneath Mount Penglai,' whereupon the First Emperor dispatched Xu Fu and others to search for him across the sea. He is one of the representative figures of the Fangxian Dao of the Qin and Han, and was later venerated as the 'Perfected of the North Pole,' an important member of the Daoist pantheon of immortals.

Contributions & Influence

• A transmitter of the Huang-Lao school (as recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian)
• A representative figure of Qin-Han Fangxian Dao and the legends of the immortals of Penglai

Legends

According to legend, he conversed with Qin Shi Huang for three days and nights and left behind a pair of red jade sandals as he departed; he ate jujubes as large as melons; he dwelt on the immortal isle of Penglai as an elder of a thousand years.