Legend of Zhang Sanfeng

Fujian
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Zhang Sanfeng, the Taoist Tai Chi master, was born in Kengchi Village, Kanxia Village, Heping Town, Shaowu City. His common name was Zhang Zichong. He was also known as "Zhang Sloppy" because of his unkempt appearance. In Shaowu and Heping Town, there are not only county annals and prefectural annals of the Ming and Qing dynasties, "Zhang's Genealogy" and cliff carvings on Chousi Ridge that record Zhang Sanfeng, but also the remains of Zhang Sanfeng's life and activities. There are also many folk legends about Zhang Sanfeng. For example, it is said that he has a strange appearance and often wears a bamboo hat. Whenever he eats and drinks, he eats ten kilograms of rice immediately. Sometimes the rice and water do not stick to his teeth for several months, but his face is rosy and energetic; it is said that Zhang Sanfeng can fast and walk, and come back to life; it is also said that Zhang Sanfeng comes and goes freely, as if walking on flat ground, and wild beasts dare not invade. There are also legends about Zhang Sanfeng and broken copper tea, "immortal bridge", many strange things under Wuyang Peak, and a strange man must appear in Yongcheng every dynasty. Legend of Zhang Sanfeng and Broken Copper Tea: Zhang Sanfeng's mother was pregnant for ten months. When she gave birth to Zhang Sanfeng, she dreamed of a Yuan crane flying to her from afar, and then Zhang Sanfeng was born. After Zhang Sanfeng arrived at Wudang Mountain, he continued to travel. Around the Jiazi year of the Taiding period, he came to Shaowu again. He practiced Tai Chi at Liuxian Peak and Wuyang Peak in Heping. Whenever Zhang Sanfeng practiced, clouds and mists surrounded him, condensing into fairy air. Eight trigrams and Tai Chi diagrams often appeared in the air between the peaks. The tea forest within a radius of hundreds of meters was also nourished by this spiritual energy, giving rise to unique spiritual effects. People nearby often drink this tea, which not only refreshes the mind and strengthens the body, but also eliminates harm and prevents all diseases. One day, a child on Heping Street accidentally swallowed a copper coin into his stomach. The pain was unbearable and he was in danger. After Zhang Sanfeng knew about it, he picked a handful of tea leaves from the tea bushes of Liuxian Peak, chewed them in his mouth, and let the child take them. After just a cup of tea, the child's stomach gurgled, and the copper coin broke into pieces but was not excreted, and he was cured immediately. Therefore, people call the tea leaves around Liuxian Peak and Wuyang Peak in Heping that are nourished by Zhang Sanfeng's Tai Chi spiritual energy as broken copper tea. The legend of "Shenxian Bridge": There is a bridge at the end of the street in Heping Town. It is said that it is the place where Zhang Sanfeng ascended to heaven, so it is called "Shenxian Bridge". In the early years of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the bridge was washed away by floods, and it was very inconvenient for people to cross the bridge. People often fell into the river. After Zhang Sanfeng knew about it, he sent a dream to the local rich man named Cao, saying that if he could donate money to rebuild the bridge, he would have good fortune in the future. The rich man Cao had only a daughter and no son. He was just thinking about accumulating virtue to have many descendants, and Zhang Sanfeng's dream was exactly what he wanted. So he decided to donate money to repair the bridge and asked his good friend Chen's family to jointly fund the bridge. The Chen family also gave their eldest son to the Cao family to help with the bridge construction. After the bridge was built, the young man of the Chen family became the son-in-law of the Cao family and gave birth to a son named Cao Tai. After Cao Tai passed the imperial examination, he served as the instructor of Anqing Prefecture School, and later became the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, the Governor of the Grain Transport, and the Governor of Huaiyang. According to legend, Cao Tai encountered disasters twice during his official career, and both times he was guided by Zhang Sanfeng in his dreams, which turned the disaster into good fortune. The story of Chen Tai's creation in Shenxian Bridge soon spread to eight miles and ten villages, and for a time, the trend of bridge construction in Shaowu was prevalent. In the late Ming Dynasty, a shrine was set up in the center of Shenxian Bridge, and a statue of Zhang Sanfeng was made. People from far away places came to worship the bridge god. After the Qing Dynasty, bridge meetings were held every year, and people who came to the bridge meetings had to "walk on the bridge" and walk back and forth on the bridge thirty times, which became a major landscape of Heping. After liberation, Shenxian Bridge was demolished due to the construction of roads. In 2010, "The Legend of Zhang Sanfeng" was included in the third batch of Nanping City's list of representative works of intangible cultural heritage.

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