The gourd used to play  different roles in some of the Chinese legends, which usually reflected some kind of humanism and social background of that period. No matter whether the legends were true or not, we Chinese had always believed that they entertained, and of course educated people a lot. The gourd was present in many of the Chinese legends or fairy tales. Sometimes it was of magical power, like in the Chinese masterpiece "Xi You Ji." The gourd in the story is a goblin-surrendered one. Besides, the gourd in the legend about one of the Eight Immortals, Limped Lee, is another magical one, which was full of elixir he used to save any patients miraculously. The most famous one is that doctors of Chinese medicine are always respectfully called "xuan hu ji shi", and this idiom just comes from an old legend describing the process about how a celestial with a gourd cured people. Want to learn more about the magical gourds in the legends. The more details will be presented as the following:

(1)The portrait of the traditional doctor of Chinese medicine

(2)The legend of Limped Lee, one of the Eight Immortals

(3)Magic gourd in "Xi You Ji" (Journey To The West)

(4)The allusion of "Yi Yang Hua Hu Lu" (The idiom,Yi Yang Hua Hu Lu, means a copycat)

(1)The portrait of the traditional doctor of Chinese medicine

In the Tung-Han dynasty, an old man with a gourd came to the Ju Nan City to sell his medicine. The old man always told the people, who bought medicine with him that “After taking my medicine, you are going to throw up something dirty, and you will become better in few days.” Just as predicted, more and more people got better after taking his medicine. In this way, the old man earned a lot of money from selling medicine. But the elder always gave his money to the poor; he only kept a little money with him.

But the old man was queer in some way. For example, the old man disappeared at sunset. And there was nothing but his gourd on his seat. Nobody knew where he was.

One day, an official saw the old man’s secret accidentally─ After sunset, he always jumped into his gourd. So, the old man was an immortal! After perceiving this secret, the official started to clean and cook for the old man diligently. He wanted to learn how to become a god. Day by day, the old man thought the official was conscientious. The old man decided to give the official a chance.

And then, the old man told this official that “After sunset, come to my place without being noticed.” When the official arrived in the evening, the old man pulled the hand of the official and jumped into the gourd!

The space of the gourd was another world. The old man invited the official to drink with him. The old man chatted with the official. “I was a god in the heaven, but I did something wrong before. So I was relegated to the earth. Since you want to learn something from me, I have to give you some trials.” The old man said.

Later, the old man put the official into a group of tigers, the first trial. Because the official remained composed, he passed it. And then, the old man gave the official a plate of excrement with many maggots. This is the second trial. However, the trial was too disgusting that the official failed in this stage. The old man sighed with regret and said, “You don’t have a talent for practicing rules to become a god. But I could teach you some skills to save people.” Finally, the official learned something about healing from the immortal. And he also took a gourd and save people like the old man.

(2)The legend of limped Lee, one of the Eight Immortals

The leader of Eight gods are the Limped Lee. He is an immortal with a lot of legends. One of the legends is about his figure: During the period of leaving home to practice the Taoist rules with a god, the Limped Lee’s disciple burned his body involuntarily. Hence, when the soul of the Limped Lee came back, he couldn’t find out his body! Therefore, the Limped Lee was forced to place his soul into a dead body of beggar. That was the reason why the Limped Lee looked so ugly and poor.

        Besides, it said that the gourd on his back was full of elixirs. Those elixirs could save patients miraculously. Hence, Chinese people usually called the Limped Lee the inventor of dogskin plaster.

(3)Magical gourd in "Xi You Ji" (Journey To The West)

       Journey To The West, one of the four great classic novels during the Ming Dynasty, was written by Wu Chen-en. The story has copious and profound meanings such as an adventure, a fantasy and a personal search. But here we would like to show the functions and legends of gourds in ancient China with this famous novel.

Containing elixirs: Wu-kung entered a chamber where elixirs of immortality were made. He found five gourds containing a batch of elixirs. Wu-kung said happily, "Ha! This is my lucky day. I will have a little taste." He poured the elixirs out of the gourds and ate them all.

Transforming into a boat: Sandy was the younger brother of Wu-kung. He was very patient and strong. And he was able to breathe underwater. Sandy retained some of his magical abilities when he worked in the Heaven. For example, he was able to transform a small gourd into a gigantic one that could be used to cross rivers.

Subduing the demons: Wu-kung thought of one method to save his master and brothers: He disguised himself and became an old god. And then he pulled out one fur to become a big purple golden gourd. When everything was settled down, he told the two goblins that, "Your gourd just can contain people, but my gourd can contain the whole sky. I also hate Wu-kung, the naughty monkey. If you want, I can exchange my excellent gourd with you." Wu-kung said. These stupid goblins were too gravy to deliberate upon who the old god was. They exchanged their gourd with the old man for the big purple golden gourd with boundless joy. But when the old god left, they soon found that they were deceived by Wu-kung.

(4)The allusion of "Yi Yang Hua Hu Lu"

Tao Ku was a member of the Imperial Academy. Everybody thought that he was very intelligent and he was also good at writing.

But what he did just revised and copied the ancient articles of other people without his own creativity. Therefore, when people knew the fact, they said he just followed other’s way to draw a gourd without his own skills and creativity. (Chinese: Yi Yang Hua Hu Lu)

So, when describing someone just imitates other people and follows the beaten path without questioning, you can say he is nothing but a copycat or Yi Yang Hua Hu Lu in Chinese.