Hu Xiantan – A Historic Ming Dynasty Pavilion

Hu Xiantan is located in the northwest of the Penglai Pavilion ancient architectural complex, connec[...]

Hu Xiantan is located in the northwest of the Penglai Pavilion ancient architectural complex, connected to the west wall of the Tianhou Palace’s sleeping hall to the east, and was originally built during the Ming Dynasty. It faces south, with a width of 9.13 meters, a depth of 3.73 meters, and a height of 4.45 meters, featuring a three-room structure with three main beams and a hard mountain top. Legend has it that there was a Hu family in Dengzhou Prefecture during the Ming Dynasty, with a young master who was not interested in studying for fame, but was passionate about seeking folk prescriptions and gathering medicinal herbs in the mountains to treat the common people. His medical skills were extraordinary, able to cure any difficult and complex diseases. Later, he became an immortal through cultivation and was respectfully known as ‘Hu Xian’. To commemorate his merits, ‘Hu Xiantan’ was built, which was always bustling with people seeking medicine and treatment. Before liberation, the statues and items inside Hu Xiantan were destroyed. In 2001, based on the oral accounts of elderly artists and local seniors, the cultural relics department of Penglai restored the original appearance of Hu Xiantan. The couplet on the door of the renovated Hu Xiantan reads ‘Cultivate one’s mind and character in the deep mountains, and become an immortal after leaving the ancient cave’. Inside the hall, there are three statues, with Hu Xian in the middle, flanked by his two medicine boys, a girl holding a Ganoderma lucidum, and a boy holding a medicine gourd and medical books. On the east wall, there is a painting titled ‘Gathering Medicinal Herbs in the Deep Mountains’, created by Wang Rulin, a senior painter from Shandong Provincial Academy of Fine Arts. The opening hours are 08:00 to 17:00 all year round.

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