Who is the An Qisheng 安期生 The Elder of a Thousand Years

Anqi Sheng, also known as "the Elder of a Thousand Years", was called the Arctic True Person in Tao Hongjing's The Chart of the Realms of Immortals and Spirits. He either resides in the heavenly court, roams in mountains, drifts on the sea, or hides underground, and is known to the world as a "sea immortal".

Legends about Anqi Sheng are recorded in books such as Biographies of Immortals, Comprehensive Mirror of Immortals Through the Ages, and Records of the Grand Historian. It is said that he was from Fuxiangting in Langya (now within the territory of Zhucheng, Weifang, Shandong). He sold medicines by the East China Sea, and people at that time called him the Elder of a Thousand Years.

According to legend, when Emperor Qin Shi Huang traveled east, he heard of Anqi Sheng's fame and invited him to meet. They talked for three days and three nights, and the emperor regarded him as an extraordinary person, so he gave him gold and jade bi disks. Anqi Sheng placed the gold and jade bi disks in Fuxiangting, left a letter, and gave a pair of red jade shoes as a return gift, telling Emperor Qin Shi Huang to look for him in Penglai a few years later. Emperor Qin Shi Huang then sent hundreds of people including Xu Shi (Xu Fu) and Lu Sheng to search by sea, but their ships were caught in a storm and returned without reaching Penglai Mountain. Later, Emperor Qin Shi Huang went to Fuxiangting again and ordered the construction of more than ten shrines by the East China Sea to worship Anqi Sheng.

After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, Anqi Sheng went with his friend Kuai Tong. Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu, wanted to invite him to be an official, so he left for a distant place, and no one knew where he ended up.

Records of the Grand Historian·Book of Sacrifices to Heaven and Earth records that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, admired immortality. The alchemist Li Shaojun told the emperor that he had personally met Anqi Sheng on the East China Sea, and the jujubes Anqi Sheng ate were as big as melons. Moved by Li Shaojun's words, Emperor Wu not only offered sacrifices to Anqi Sheng in person but also sent alchemists by boat to search for him in the East China Sea. It was not until Li Shaojun passed away (achieved immortality) that such activities subsided a little. Later, the alchemist Luan Da told Emperor Wu that he had been friends with Anqi Sheng on the East China Sea, so Emperor Wu sent Luan Da to the East China Sea to seek the elixir of immortality from Anqi Sheng.

In fact, Anqi Sheng's immortal traces are not only on the sea but also all over the country. Jia's Forest of Sayings records that someone south of the Yellow River once obtained his jujubes. It took three days to cook them, and their fragrance spread ten miles around. Eating such jujubes could bring the dead back to life, cure the sick, and enable healthy people to ascend to heaven in broad daylight.