Legend of Xu Fu's eastward journey

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Legend of Xu Fu's eastward journey

Applicant: Cixi City, Zhejiang Province

Project No.: 528

Project No.: i-41

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Zhejiang Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Cixi City, Zhejiang Province

Protection unit: Cixi Xufu Research Association

A brief introduction to the legend of Xu Fu's eastward journey:

Applicant: Cixi City, Zhejiang Province

There have been a lot of legends about Xu Fu sent by the first emperor of Qin Dynasty to seek immortality in Xiangshan County and the coastal area of Cixi City, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province since ancient times. In 210 BC, Xu Fu led thousands of boys and girls and hundreds of craftsmen and soldiers to seek immortality from Dapeng mountain (formerly known as Xiangshan Mountain) (Penglai mountain, Xiangshan Mountain). Later works of local chronicles almost without exception recorded Xu Fu's legendary materials, which were recorded in Tang Dynasty's Penglai Temple stele, Song Dynasty's Siming Baoqing annals and Cixi and Xiangshan county annals. The literati and poets who were born or traveled there also wrote the legend of Xu Fu into their poems.

These two kinds of historical documents provide a considerable number of recorded texts of Xu Fu's legend, which are complementary to the local oral works handed down by word of mouth. In 1995, Cixi City set up the Xu Fu Research Association, which began to study Xu Fu's eastward journey and collect and sort out folk tales, and compiled and printed materials such as the pursuit of Dapeng and the road of Dapeng.

The legend of Xu Fu's eastward journey has important historical and cultural value and academic value. Xu Fu is a pioneer in the history of Chinese navigation and foreign cultural exchange. He is a peacemaker of China, Japan and South Korea. The legend of Xu Fu's eastward voyage reflects the ancestors' desire to explore the unknown world, and creates an ambitious, erudite and adventurous image of Xu Fu, which has a great influence on the formation of national character. Under the impact of modern media, the oral narration of folklore has been ignored, and the inheritors have passed away one after another. This legend is on the verge of extinction and is in urgent need of protection.