Lan Caihe- Chinese GodDeity"Patron of Florists"

The Wandering Singer

Lan Caihe appeared during the Tang Dynasty, though when exactly and as what, no one could say. The Taiping guangji records a figure in a tattered blue gown cinched with a crude wooden belt three inches wide, carrying a basket of flowers, one foot shod and one foot bare. Whether man or woman, the sources never settle. The Dongyou ji leans toward male but refuses to commit, and in Chinese opera a convention captures what the texts cannot: Lan Caihe wears feminine costume and speaks with a masculine voice.

The singer wandered through market crowds with wooden clappers for rhythm. In summer, Lan Caihe wore heavy wool and shivered. In winter, the singer lay in snow wearing thin shirts while steam rose from the skin. Passersby threw coins. Lan Caihe strung them on a cord and trailed them through the streets, where they fell off and were lost, or gave them away to the poor. One song preserved in the Taiping guangji speaks of painted houses of gold that cannot endure, and jade pillars that crumble when dynasties fall.

The Beggar's Test

On the road, Lan Caihe found a dying beggar, crippled and covered in sores. Without hesitation, the singer stopped, washed the wounds, and shared what little food there was. The beggar was Li Tieguai, the Iron-Crutch Immortal, testing the hearts of those who passed. He revealed himself and offered Lan Caihe immortality.

The Ascension

Lan Caihe was drinking at a tavern in Haozhou when celestial music sounded overhead and a crane descended through the clouds. Without a word, Lan Caihe rose into the sky. The tattered blue robe and the single boot fell to the ground. Witnesses heard singing from above, fainter with each moment. The same songs about painted houses and crumbling pillars. Then silence.