Eight Daoist immortals playing Mahjong -- a traditional Chinese New Year's Painting

As the legend goes, Han Zhongli was initially a military general of the East Han Dynasty and eventually became a Daoist, representing a journey from war to peace based on justice and respect. It is said he used to be an ill-tempered man and easy to get cross, so his magic tool is a palm leaf fan that helped him to put out the fire of anger, one of the major obstacles on the path to upgrading our tangible form of existence. Thus he sands for yang-fire in Five Agents and ☲ (离) in Eight Trigrams.

Iron-Crutch Li (铁拐李 418-326BC), the leading figure of the Eight Immortals, from Sichuan, representing yin-metal in Five Agents and ☱ (兌) in Eight Trigrams. According to Daoist classics, Crutch Li was an impressive-looking guy and spent decades meditating in a mountain cave. One...See more