Tie Guai-Li 铁拐李
In paintings of the Eight Immortals, Tie Guai-Li usually leans on an iron crutch and carries a gourd. The crutch gave him his name, and according to legend he kept medicine in the gourd. The story of how he came to inhabit the body of a lame beggar begins with a task that his disciple was unable to carry out to the end.
Tie Guai-Li (铁拐李) is also known as Li Tieguai, that is, Li with the Iron Crutch. In the legends about his life before he attained immortality, he is called by various names. In one version he is Li Xuan, in another Li Hongshui. Usually the story begins with Li's spirit setting off on a journey. Li leaves his body in the care of his disciple and asks him to wait seven days. On the sixth day the disciple learns that his mother is gravely ill. Concluding that his master will not return, he burns the body and leaves.
When Li's spirit returns, he has no choice but to enter the body of a beggar who has just died. In one variant, Laozi and Queen Mother of the West give him an iron crutch and a gourd of medicine. With these he sets off to heal people. It is sometimes told that he also helped the mother of that very disciple. The gourd became his constant attribute, and Tie Guai-Li himself was also venerated as the patron of those who prepare medicines.
On television he most often appears alongside the other immortals. In The Yang's Saga (1985) he was played by Chu Tit-Wo, in the Singaporean Legends of the Eight Immortals (1998) by Lin Yi-Sheng. In 8 Avatar (2008) the role went to Hugo Ng.
