In Chinese folklore, there is a fairytale that goes with silkies.  Long long ago the celestial being Lu Dongbing made pills of immortality on Tiger-nose Peak (also known as Two-finger Peak of Wushan Mountain in Taihe).  On the day the pills were made, other celestial beings were invited to the celebration party.  While they were drinking ine, a pair of wild chickens flew in from the forest inot the pill making pool and ate the pills of immortality.  The chickens then became a pair of white phoenix.  Lu Dongging was not happy and went to Buddha Guanying who smiled and said "its a good opportunity for them to live on Earth".  Buddha Guanying pointed at the Tiger-nose Peak and the white phoenix immediately became sillkie fowl.

 

The site for making the pills of immortality can still be seen at the Two-finger Peak of Wushan, the spring is known as "pill-making pool".  The 20cm deep pool has clear sweet water.  In summer tourists would come by and drink the water there.  This pool is mystical in that it never overflows, nor is depleted, no matter how many people drink from it.

Research conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences shows that it is due to the peculiar natural conditions in Wushan, particularly because of the Wushan spring water and its unique mineral composition.  The original silkies are said to have drunk the spring water, eat worms from the forest and the wild grasses from that area.  They believe it is impossible to raise Wushan Chicken without Wushan water.   

Emperor Qian Long of the Qing Dynasty named the Taihe chicken as 'Wushan Chicken'. This came about in the early years of the Qing Dynasty.  Tu Wenxuan from Wushan, Taihe sent silkie fowl to the Emperor Qian Long.  The Emperor ate the chicken and was impressed with its flavour.  Tu Wenxuan was appointed as an official and the chicken was renamed as “Wushan Chicken”.

In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a disaster that killed almost all people and silkies Wushan. In the 1930's, two scientists in Jiangxi province collected 10 Taihe Silkie, with 2 cocks and 8 hens from the peasants, in order to save the silkie fowl which was on the brink of extinction.

Until 1938, silkie fowls that remained in Taihe only numbered in the hundreds. In 1944, the Japanese attacked and occupied Nanchang, then bombed Taihe. The original Taihe silkie fowls were almost totally wiped out. In order to protect the original Taihe silkie fowl, scientists there disguised as peasants, at the risk of life, to raise the silkie fowl until the end of the war.

In 1959, the Jiangxi Taihe Wushan Original Chinese Farm was established. Located in Wushan, the farm is set up with the unique purpose of raising the original Taihe silkie fowl.

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