The story of Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian comes from the state of Chu during the Zhou Dynasty of China and is first recorded in a Song Dynasty collection of tales called Anthology Of Tales From Records Of The Taiping Era (Chinese: 太平廣記).
It involves a beautiful writer named Pan Zhang (潘章) who becomes widely known for his bearing and looks. One of the male students who comes to learn from him is Wang Zhongxian (王仲先), and the two fall in love at first sight. They form a domestic partnership for the rest of their lives, during which they are described as "affectionate as husband and wife, sharing the same coverlet and pillow with unbounded intimacy for one another".[1] Each of the couple dies at the same time, and the grieving local populace buries them at the peak of Mount Luofu. A tree miraculously grows from the spot, with its twigs growing to embrace each other.[2]