Penglai- Chinese LocationLocation · Realm"Island of the Immortals"

The Islands of the Eastern Sea

Penglai rises from the mists of the Eastern Sea, one of three legendary island-mountains where immortals dwell. Together with Fangzhang and Yingzhou, it forms a triad of blessed isles that float upon the eastern waters, not anchored to the ocean floor but drifting on currents of cosmic energy.

According to the Liezi, there were originally five such islands, but they drifted freely on the waves, troubling the immortal inhabitants. The supreme deity appointed fifteen enormous tortoises to bear them, rotating in shifts of sixty thousand years. Then a giant from the Longbo kingdom caught six of the tortoises while fishing, and the two islands they supported sank into the northern sea. Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou remain, perpetually borne upon the cosmic deep.

When mortal ships sail toward Penglai, winds rise to drive them back, or mists descend to disorient the navigators, or the island itself recedes like a mirage. Always visible on the horizon, never drawing closer.

The White Island

All animals on Penglai are white: white deer, white foxes, white birds of every kind. Cranes circle its mountains. Palaces of gold and platinum rise among forests whose leaves shine like precious metal and whose fruits are gems that can be eaten. Rivers of crystal-clear water flow down the mountainsides, and to drink from them grants extended life.

The elixir of immortality, sought so desperately by mortal emperors, flows here like common water. The Eight Immortals are among its most famous residents, and countless other xian inhabit its pavilions and groves.

The Quests

The First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, became obsessed with finding Penglai after unifying China through conquest. Court magicians described its wonders and promised the elixir could be obtained. The emperor dispatched the magician Xu Fu with a great fleet, ships, crew, and thousands of virgin boys and girls, supposedly requirements demanded by the immortals in exchange for the elixir. Xu Fu sailed east and never returned. Some accounts say he died at sea; others claim he found not Penglai but Japan, where he settled. Shrines to Xu Fu stand in Wakayama Prefecture to this day.

Qin Shi Huang consumed various alchemical preparations that may have contained mercury, possibly hastening rather than preventing his death. He died at forty-nine.

Emperor Wu of Han proved equally susceptible. The occult specialist Li Shaojun convinced the emperor that by performing certain rituals he could summon Penglai's immortals. When Li Shaojun died before delivering on his promises, the emperor continued funding expeditions. He built platforms along the coast to attract the immortals' attention and had his palace grounds constructed with artificial island-mountains modeled on Penglai and its sister isles, a design tradition that shaped Chinese garden architecture for centuries.