Which female immortal is part of the Eight Immortals?

The female immortal who belongs to the Eight Immortals is He Xiangu. She is usually regarded as the group’s only clearly female member and is commonly shown holding a lotus.

He Xiangu is a Taoist immortal whose birth name is often given as He Qiong. Legends place her life in the Tang dynasty, although different regions claim her birthplace, including parts of Hunan and Guangdong. Some traditions describe her as the daughter of a shopkeeper or a local merchant.

One account says that, as a teenager, she was instructed in a dream to eat powdered mica, which gradually made her body ethereal and resistant to death. She later vanished while being summoned to the imperial court and ultimately ascended to Heaven during the Jinglong era, from 707 to 710 CE.

Her lotus symbolizes purity, health, and spiritual attainment. Han Xiangzi, Cao Guojiu, and Lan Caihe are also members of the Eight Immortals, but Han and Cao are conventionally male. Lan Caihe’s gender is sometimes portrayed as ambiguous, which is why He Xiangu remains the safest canonical answer to this question.