Anqi Sheng () was a
Chinese immortal and wizard, said to be already over 1,000 years old at the time of
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...
, the first emperor.
He was said to inhabit
Mount Penglai. Anqi was said to have been a Taoist wizard, able to render himself visible or invisible at his pleasure. According to the
Daoist hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...
''
Liexian Zhuan'', Qin Shi Huang spoke with him for three entire days (including nights), and offered Anqi jade and gold. Qin Shi Huang feared death, and sought immortality, without success. In 219 BC, he sent an expedition under
Xu Fu to find Anqi and to bring him back, along with the
elixir of life, which grants immortality or eternal youth. When Xu Fu reported that a sea creature blocked the expedition's path, Qin Shi Huang sent archers to kill it. In 210 BC, Xu Fu continued his journey. Legend says he found
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
instead, proclaimed himself king, and never returned. The ''
Records of the Grand Historian'' state that
Li Shaojun visited Anqi Sheng during his travels. There is no record, however, of where they met or of Mount Penglai itself. In 130 BC,
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...
also sent an expedition to find Anqi, which proved unsuccessful.
Anqi holds an important place in the Taiqing and
Shangqing Schools. Hagiographies of the Daoist transcendent
Maming Sheng (馬鳴生, "Master Horse-neigh") record that he was a disciple of Anqi Sheng, from whom he received a ''
waidan'' External Alchemy scripture that enabled him to refine an effective
elixir of immortality.
References
* This article incorporates material from
Herbert Giles's ''A Chinese Biographical Dictionary'' (London: Arthur Probsthain, 1898), which is now in the public domain.
* Fabrizio Pregadio. ''The Encyclopedia of Taoism''. Routledge, 2008.
Taoist immortals
{{tao-stub