Fanghu (), also known as Fanghu Mountain or Fangzhang '' zhou'' (), is one of the five

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea ( zh, c=渤海, p=Bó Hǎi, l=Bo Sea) is a gulf/inland sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects via the Bohai Strait. It ...

Shenshan mountain-islands in Taoist mythology. It is said this is where the Emperor

Qin Shihuang 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 dynasty in Chine ...

visited to seek immortality.

Legend of the Five Bohai Shenshan Mountains-Islands

In the

there is a place where all water sources flow called the Guixu Valley. In it were five sacred mountains - Penglai, Fanghu or Fangzhang, Yingzhou, Daiyu and Yuanjiao. The mountains were inhabited by Taoist ''

xian Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

'' and beasts who flew from one mountain to another. The tops of the mountains were said 9000 li wide and 70,000 li apart from each other. Its flat terraces were said to be made of gold, jade, and onyx. Eating the fruits of the trees atop the mountains granted immortality and everlasting youth. In order to make sure the mountains stayed stable for the ''xian'', the ruler of the heavens ordered Yuqiang to command fifteen ao to stabilize the five mountains. The

turtle Turtles are reptiles of the order (biology), order Testudines, characterized by a special turtle shell, shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Crypt ...

is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology that is believed to have the power to cause earthquakes, as well as changes in the sea, mountains, and rivers. The fifteen ao were split into three groups who switched shifts once every 60,000 years. However, in the nearby Longbo Kingdom there lived giants whose strides were so large they could walk over to the mountains and fish six ao out. The Longbo giants burned the bones of the ao for

oracle bone Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''p ...

divination. As a result, the Daiyu and Yuanjiao mountains floated to the edge of the sea and sunk. Billions of ''xian'' were forced to evacuate their homes. As punishment, the heavenly emperor cursed the Longbo Kingdom to shrink in area over time, forcing its people to also shrink in size to adapt.。 According to

Dongfang Shuo Dongfang Shuo (, c. 160 BCE – c. 93 BCE) was a Han dynasty scholar-official, '' fangshi'' ("master of esoterica"), author, and court jester to Emperor Wu (r. 141 – 87 BCE). In Chinese mythology, Dongfang is considered a Daoist ''xian'' ...

, Fanghu is where loong dragons and ''xian'' who do not wish to ascend to the heavens lived. The ''xian'' there lived idyllic lives and the place is filled with acres of farms and fields tended by the ''xian''.

Qin Shihuang's search for immortality

The Emperor

sent his envoys to seek an elixir for immortality on the three Pengbo Shenshan - Fanghu, Penglai, and Yingzhou. Since at least the

King Wei of Qi King Wei of Qi (), personal name Tian Yinqi (田因齊), was a ruler of the Qi (state), Qi state, reigning from 356 BC to 320 BC, or according to another source from 378 BC to 343 BC. He was the first ruler of Qi to style himself "king". Life ...

, rulers have repeatedly sent envoys to seek the three Shenshan in the Pengbo Sea. It's said that there, all the beasts are pure white and buildings are made of gold and silver. When approaching, the three Shenshan look like clouds. But upon getting closer, they disappear into the sea and the ships are blown away. For years,

also sent envoys to seek the three Shenshan to find an elixir of youth. However, every envoy returned claiming they were blown away as soon as they got closer to the three Shenshan. Qin Shihuang spent five years sending envoys to look for Shenshan, and looked for it himself on expeditions near the Bohai Sea. He died in the fifth year before he was able to reach the islands.

Fanghu in Chinese Gardens

The pursuit of immortality directly influenced the development of the

Chinese garden The Chinese garden is a landscape garden style which has evolved over three thousand years. It includes both the vast gardens of the Emperor of China, Chinese emperors and members of the imperial family, built for pleasure and to impress, and t ...

in China. In order to get closer to the immortality, emperors dug pools in the garden to build islands, simulating the Bohai Shenshan mountains on the sea.Che Bing Chiu, ''Jardins de Chine'', p. 12. The Jianzhang Palace in the Han Dynasty is the first known garden built with the complete set of the three remaining Bohai Shenshan mountains. Since then, the Yichi Sanshan () system of one pond with three mountains has been a main model of royal gardens. The Fanghu Wonderland () is one of the 40 Scenes in the

Old Summer Palace The Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan () or Yuanmingyuan Park, originally called the Imperial Gardens (), and sometimes called the Winter Palace, was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. I ...

References

{{Reflist Places in Chinese mythology Fanghu Fanghu Mythical utopias Asia in mythology