Abstract: The reason why Chen Zide（陳自得）, a famous external elixir scholar during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, has been frequently mentioned is not out of his theory of external elixir, but whether his drama Taiping Xianji（太平仙記）is plagiaristic. From the Ming Dynasty to the present, most scholars believe that the Taiping Xianji is completed by modifying the story of Dongtian Xuanji（洞天玄記）by Yang Shen（楊慎）, a great scholar in the Ming Dynasty. Except the perspective of philology and the publishing situation at that time, examining Chen Zide’s life experience and his thought of external alchemy is also necessary in proving whether the text is plagiaristic. Through the research on Chen Zide’s life experience and narrative analysis of the text of Taiping Xianji, this article infers that Taiping Xianji is by Chen Zide’s independent creation

Key words: Chen Zide, External alchemy, Taiping Xianji