Why Did Dongfang Shuo Steal Peaches? : The Mythological Significance of Peaches in the Paiting of Dongfang Shuo

Based on this question and idea, This paper begins with the image of “Dongfang Shuo Stealing Peaches” (東方朔偸桃), which became standardized as an auspicious painting (吉祥畵), and examines how the historical figure Dongfang Shuo came to be associated with peaches in the process of being deified as an immortal and transformed into an icon of longevity. It further explores the contexts in which the peach came to be established as the quintessential fruit of the immortals and a symbol of long life, as well as the meanings implied by the act of “stealing” it. Dongfang Shuo, a historical figure from the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, gained fame for his wit and erudition, and from the late Former Han onward he gradually began to be regarded as an immortal. Beginning in the Later Han period, Dongfang Shuo became associated with the Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wangmu). In stories recounting the meeting between Emperor Wu of Han and Xi Wangmu, he appears as the figure who “stole and ate the Queen Mother’s peaches and thereby attained eternal life,” and as a “banished immortal” expelled from the celestial realm. It is also in the accounts of the “meeting between Emperor Wu of Han and Xi Wangmu” found in Han Wugushi, Bowuzhi, and Han Wudi Neizhuan that the peach first appears as Xi Wangmu’s fruit—an immortal peach. The tale of Emperor Wu, who fervently pursued techniques of immortality, encountering the Daoist goddess Xi Wangmu vividly reflects the longing for everlasting life. The peach, long and widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and believed to promote health and longevity—and even to possess apotropaic power, the ability to ward off evil—became intertwined with the immortalist thought popular during the Han dynasty. As a result, it emerged in the story of Emperor Wu’s meeting with Xi Wangmu as a divine fruit and came to be established as an auspicious symbol of longevity. Thereafter, the story of Dongfang Shuo Stealing the Peaches continued to evolve and develop. In particular, the act of “stealing” came to merge with Dongfang Shuo’s image as a free-spirited and humorous figure who transgresses boundaries, thereby heightening the narrative’s tension and allure. The motif of “stealing the peaches” was later transformed in the Journey to the West cycle into Sun Wukong’s own peach-stealing episode, and the tale of Dongfang Shuo Stealing the Peaches developed into ever more vivid and dramatic forms, extending even to Ming–Qing drama. The story also became the subject of highly stylized paintings, such as Wu Wei’s Dongfang Shuo Stealing the Peaches, and, as both an Immortal painting and an auspicious birthday image, it exerted wide influence on East Asian art.