Fan Li, with the style name of Shaobo, was from the Chu State of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Fan Li played a vital role in King Goujian of Yue's defeating of the Wu State. He acted as an advisor to Goujian and sent Xi Shi, an exceptionally beautiful woman, to King Fuchai of Wu as a gift in a beauty trap. With Fan Li's help, Goujian wiped out the nation's humiliation and destroyed the State of Wu. During the process, Goujian underwent self-imposed hardships by sleeping on sticks and forcing himself to taste bile.

After Goujian became king, Fan Li felt that it was unsuitable for him to stay on as an advisor. Then he resigned at the pinnacle of his career and went to the State of Qi with Xi Shi. There they would go boating together. In Taodi of Qi, he became a rich businessman and renamed himself Tao Zhu Gong (Lord Tao Zhu). He was regarded as a respected master by businessmen of later ages and a god of wealth by ordinary people.