Note 47 — Chapter XVI · Myths and Doctrines of Taoism

There were floating traditions in China in Lao Tze’s time regarding men who had lived for hundreds of years. One was “the patriarch Phăng”, who is referred to by Confucius47 as “our old Phăng”. It was told that “at the end of the Shang Dynasty (1123 B.C.) he was more than 767 years old, and still in unabated vigour”. We read that during his lifetime he lost forty-nine wives and fifty-four sons; and that, after living for about 1500 years, he died and left two sons, Wu and I, who “gave their names to the Wu-i or Bu-i Hills, from which we get our Bohea tea”.48