CHUNG-LI CH'AN

Pinyin Zhongli Quan in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien (q.v.), the Eight Immortals of Taoism. A wine-drinking recluse in quest of immortality, he is often depicted as a potbellied, bearded old man holding a fan with a tassel of horse hairs. Occasionally he is depicted as a military man and is credited with unusual knowledge of alchemy. His primacy among the Eight Immortals is challenged by a tradition that makes him an ascetic convert of Li T'ieh-kuai, another Immortal. An alternate name, Han Chung-li, indicates that he probably lived during the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220).