81
was copied by a craftsman in Guangzhou from a scroll painting supplied by the temple for use as a model. The scroll painting once hung in a reception hall of the main temple. We viewed and photographed this painting (which is not on public display). The inscription on the painting is Chisong Daxian (Red Pine Fairy). The painting is evidently one painter's version of the ancient figure of the Red Pine Fairy, and is similar to another, older picture of this figure.26 The painting does not explicitly refer to Huang Daxian. However, the appearance of the figure, who is holding a handful of herbs that he has collected, and the two deer at his feet, are consistent with a portrayal of Huang Yeren.
To summarize: Huang Yeren has been known in the Luofu area, and probably worshipped, since at least the early Song period. There was once a separate shrine to Yeren, and when the temple was rebuilt after being destroyed in the early 1800's, Yeren was moved into the same room as Ge Hong. Now, there is a separate room for Huang "Daxian" at the Luofu Chongxu Guan. However, he is now no longer identified as Yeren, but merely as the Red Pine Huang Daxian. We believe that this has something to do with the belief that Huang Yeren is the same figure as the Hong Kong Huang Daxian—or that the differences are unimportant.” However, the biographies of the two Huangs are clearly irreconcilable. Neither Huang Yeren nor the partly overlapping figure of Huang Li bears any resemblance to Huang Chuping. Further, there are no literary traditions that Huang Chuping went anywhere near Luofu, or anywhere other than Jinhua Mountain in Zhejiang province, and we have found no trace of any previous worship of Huang Chuping at Luofu.28 Hence, it is surprising that anyone should want to confuse the two figures. Why has this confusion of the two Huangs occurred? We now turn to the interviews and sources in which Huang Yeren and Huang Chuping have been confused or merged.
Identifications of the Hong Kong Huang Daxian with Huang Yeren of Mt. Luofu
In 1985, the first author interviewed Taoists and others in Guangzhou and in Xiqiao, and found that where they had any opinion about the origin of the Hong Kong Huang Daxian, they