Li Shaojun
Li Shaojun (, fl. 133 BCE) was a fangshi (master of esoterica), reputed xian (transcendent; immortal), retainer of Emperor Wu of Han, and the earliest known Chinese alchemist. In the early history of Chinese waidan (External Alchemy), Li is the only fangshi whose role is documented by both historical (for instance, Shiji) and alchemical (Baopuzi) sources. Shiji The earliest record of Li Shaojun was contemporaneously written during the reign of his patron Emperor Wu (141-87 BCE): Sima Qian's c. 94 BCE Shiji (Records of the Historian) has nearly identical versions in the "Annals of Emperor Wu" (chapter 6) and "The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" (28, tr. Watson 1961: 3-52). In addition, the c. 111 CE Hanshu "Book of Han" (25A) has a "closely parallel" version (Campany 2006: 325). The Shiji chronicles Li Shaojun as part of a lengthy debate on whether and how Emperor Wu should perform the Feng (封) and Shan (禪) state rituals on Mount Tai in honor of Heaven and Earth. Debaters were divided between two factions, the fangshi maintained that Wu should emulate the Yellow Emperor, their main deity, who obtained immortality through performing the rituals, while the Confucianist court officials such as