The Yipiao Daoren 一瓢道人

Yipiao Daoren was a figure of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). He always carried a gourd and wandered freely between the E’yue regions (a historical area roughly covering parts of present-day Hubei and Hunan provinces, centered on Mount Emei and the Yueyang area). People of his time forgot his real name and surname, so they called him "the Taoist Priest with a Gourd" (or "Piao Daoren" in Chinese).

In his youth, he abandoned his Confucian studies to join the military. When Japanese pirates invaded the coastal defense areas, the Taoist fought bravely. He was promoted from a junior military officer (xiaoxiao) to a subordinate general (pijiang). Later, because he violated military regulations, he fled to the border areas between Wu and Chu (a historical region covering parts of present-day Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Hunan provinces) and mingled with a group of bandits.

He was skilled at painting oxen and dragons, and he signed his works with the alias "Niu Shungeng" (literally "Niu the Farmer," with "Shungeng" implying farming in the era of Emperor Shun, a legendary sage-king in ancient China). His story is recorded in Minghua Lu (Records of Ming Dynasty Paintings), a classic text documenting painters and their works of the Ming Dynasty.