八仙与道士

The eight legendary immortals and Taoists

八仙传说是我国民间传说中道教的八个神仙,然徵诸史籍,八仙之名多歧异。八仙传说乃盛于元世,而非起自元代,其具体人物,在明代后期之前犹不固定。明末的《东游记》演绎了一个八仙过海的故事,其影响较大,八仙的名次从此固定下来。

The eight legendary immortals are the eight supernatural beings in our traditional Taoist folk stories. However, the historical stories of the eight immortals are miscellaneous and various, determining them as being most popular but not originating from the Yuan Dynasty. Furthermore, the characters and their origins are never specified. Yet, Travels to the East created in the end of the Ming Dynasty depicts the immortals so vividly that this story has remained the most influential and that it seems to be the fixed one.