Liu An

Liu An was the grandson of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, founder of the Han dynasty, and inherited the title Prince of Huainan, governing from Shouchun. A devoted scholar and musician, he gathered thousands of scholars, guests, and practitioners of esoteric arts at his court to collaboratively compile the Huainanzi—a seminal synthesis of Huang-Lao Daoist philosophy—whose anecdotes include the famous parable 'The Old Man Who Lost His Horse'. Tradition holds that Liu An pursued immortality techniques and, while conducting alchemical experiments on Bagong Mountain, ground soybeans into milk to cultivate elixir sprouts; accidentally mixing the soy milk with gypsum, he discovered it coagulated into tender, edible curds—the world’s first tofu. Bagong Mountain thus became revered as the birthplace of tofu, and generations of tofu artisans have honoured Liu An as their founding patron deity, solemnly commemorating him in annual trade rituals.