Lan Caihe

Lan Caihe is the most enigmatic of the Eight Immortals. The Southern Tang dynasty text Xuxian Zhuan (Continued Biographies of Immortals) records that Lan habitually wore a tattered blue robe, wore a boot on one foot and walked barefoot on the other, slept in snow during winter yet exhaled warm vapour as if it were summer, and wandered through city markets singing drunkenly while beating a three-chi-long wooden clapper. Lan begged for alms while travelling across the land, and no one—neither young nor old, male nor female—could discern Lan’s true identity. Legend holds that, after becoming intoxicated at a wine house by the Hao River, Lan heard celestial flutes and cranes’ cries, then ascended skyward riding a white crane; only then did onlookers realise Lan’s immortal nature when the boots, robe, and clapper were cast down from the heavens. During the Eight Immortals’ crossing of the sea, Lan’s flower basket transformed into a magical raft that carried them safely across. Because Lan sang and performed while journeying, later generations of opera performers and musicians revered Lan as their patron deity; and since the flowers in Lan’s basket bloomed eternally in all four seasons, folk tradition also venerates Lan as a joyful immortal who safeguards peace and awakens the deluded.