Li A was a legendary Daoist xian and diviner who founded of the Way of the Li Family, which was one of the oldest schools of religious Daoism that was popular throughout South China during the Six Dynasties (220–589). Owing to his extraordinary lifespan, Li A's sobriquet was Babaisui gong, which resulted in confusion or conflation with several other transcendents, one named Li Babai, and the charlatan Li Tuo (李脫) who took the name Li Babai.