Peng Zu

Peng Zu
Chinese: 彭祖
Sculpture of Peng Zu at Tea Theme Park in Mount Wuyi
Born	c. 1900 BC
Died	c. 1066 BC (aged 834)
Nationality	Chinese
Other names	彭祖
Known for	Extraordinarily long life

Peng Zu (彭祖, lit. 'Ancestor Peng') is a legendary long-lived figure in China. He supposedly lived 450 years in the Shang dynasty.^[1] Some legends say that one year was 60 days in ancient China; that made him more than 130 years old. Others say he was 400 years old. Another says he was accidentally left off of the death list in heaven.

Peng Zu was regarded as a saint in Taoism. The pursuit of elixir of life by practitioners of Taoism was highly influenced by Peng Zu. He is well known in Chinese culture as a symbol for longevity, nutrition treatments, and sex therapy treatments. Legend maintains he married more than 100 wives and fathered hundreds of children, as late as in his 450th year.

According to the Spring and Autumn period's Guoyu (Discourses of the States), the Han dynasty's Shiben (Genealogy), and the Tang dynasty's Kuodi Zhi (Record of Geography), Peng Zu was the founder of Dapeng and made marquis by the kings of the Shang dynasty.^[2]

He was mentioned in the Analects, where Confucius claims that he is like Peng Zu because he was a transmitter of the knowledge passed on by the ancients rather than a creator of knowledge. ^[3]