Hello, and welcome to Chinese Folk Tales.
This is Beibei.
Today, our focus will be longevity.
We've been through immortality.
That's simply out of reach.
But we can all strive for longer lives.
How about 800 years?
Anyone interested?
Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch.
But someone in ancient China did it.
According to legends.
In Chinese, there's a saying that it's rare to see a man over 70.
But that was way back in the ancient times.
Just to demonstrate how things have improved, I'm going to volunteer some personal information.
The mother of my grandmother lived to be 96 years old.
And then my grandmother from my mom's side passed away when she was 92.
And my other grandmother can still thread a needle now at the age of 91.
I think the secret to the good health of my grandmothers is simply diligence and a simple diet.
So what's the secret for the old man who lived to be 800, and how did he feel about it?
Well, that's what we will find out today.
The old man's name is Peng Zu, and he was a descendant of one of the five ancient Chinese emperors.
The only thing he was known for, really, was his ability to keep breathing and living.
How long exactly did he live?
I think he lived from the times of Yao and Shun all the way to the Zhou dynasty, so over 800 years.
According to legends, he was over 760 years old at the end of Shang Dynasty.
Remember the times of the ruthless King Zhou?
And at that age, he still had good hearing, clear vision, and a straight back.
Looked about 40 or 50.
What kind of lifestyle did he have?
He liked quiet and he lived to travel.
He didn't travel by cart or horses.
He just walked and walked.
He liked to cook and supposedly he could make this amazing chicken soup.
It was so good that it was offered to Emperor Yao.
But I guess it didn't work its magic as well on the Emperor.
So people believed that his longevity has something to do with his diet and the habit of taking long, long walks.
As we mentioned in prior episodes, ancient emperors and kings were obsessed with the quest for immortality, or at least longevity.
They dreamed to become immortals and live forever. probably so that they could rule forever.
Kings from the Shang Dynasty even asked Peng Zu for his secret for good health.
So what did the old man say?
Besides the long walks and the secret chicken soup recipe?
Something quite sad, actually.
Peng Zu replied, Maybe there are secrets for longevity, but I don't know much and can't really say.
As for me, my father died before I was born, and my mother suffered so much trying to raise me alone, and she died when I was only three.
I became an orphan, and then there was a war, and I was homeless, just wandered from place to place.
I lived a hard life in the western part of the country for over a hundred years.
I've been married 46 times and all of my wives have died, either from old age or from sickness.
I've had 54 children, but they have all died too.
I do live a longer life than everyone else, but I've suffered so much more.
So many goodbyes and so much sadness.
What's the happiness in living such a long life?
I suffered so much when I was younger and now I'm getting old and don't feel as strong.
I don't have much time left and I don't really have any secrets for a long life.
The old man left not long after saying all this, and no one knew where he went.
He lived on for a few more decades before passing at over 800 years of age.
I guess it's not scientifically possible for a human being to live for 800 years.
Maybe this ancient character and his story is to show us the downside of living a super long life.
So many goodbyes, loneliness, ups and downs.
And in 800 years, one is bound to go through wars and other disasters.
But anyhow, people are still in quest of longer and longer lives, and Peng Zu has come to be regarded as an immortal, one of the few who turned from mortal to immortal in Chinese history.
Another such character was named Dong Fang Shuo, a writer and Taoist magician of sorts during the Han period over 2000 years ago.
The method he used was a bit shady, though.
Remember the peaches of immortality from the orchard of the Queen Mother of the West?
Dong Fangshuo stole them, the peaches, three times.
So, supposedly, he lived for some 18,000 years.
And that's why paintings of Dong Fangshuo stealing peaches make a good birthday present for Chinese elderly.
So both Peng Zu and Dong Fang Shuo were males.
What about females who lived for a long, long time?
One was the Magu Fairy, who lived to see the sea turn into mulberry fields three times.
And supposedly, she had been to birthday celebrations for the Queen Mother of the West.
That's a huge deal.
So for birthday celebrations for female elderly, it's not unusual to see the image of Magu Fairy somewhere.
Though I don't really know what she looks like.
Both Dongfang Shuo and the Magu Fairy had connections to the Queen Mother.
Maybe because the Queen Mother had both the peaches and pills of immortality.
If you're ever invited to attend the birthday celebration of a Chinese grandma or grandpa, peaches whether real ones or as a cake or a bun would be a good gift to bring along.
Besides the few characters that we mentioned today, there are eight others, like a gang of immortals, who are also household names in China.
Who are they?
What are they known for?
Well, we'll get to that in our next episode.
So that's it for today and hope to see you next time.
Bye!
Special thanks go out to Sanlian Zhongdu for their help in creating the content for this show.
If you like the podcast, please give us a rating and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen.
If you've got any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact us via email at podcast at cricomcn or find us on Twitter China Plus Pods.
