Qiu Chuji

Qiu Chuji (10 February 1148– 21 August 1227), courtesy name Tongmi (通密), also known by his Taoist name Master Changchun, was a renowned Taoist master from late Southern Song/Jin dynasty and a famous disciple of Wang Chongyang, the founder of Quanzhen School. He is known for being invited by Genghis Khan to a personal meeting near the Hindu Kush, who also respected and honored him as an Immortal.

Qiu was one of the Seven True Daoists of the North. He was the founder of the Dragon Gate sect of Taoism attracting a following in the streams of traditions flowing from the sects of the disciples.

On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month in 1148 (the eighth year of the Huangtong era of the Jin dynasty), Qiu Chuji was born in Qixia, Dengzhou, Shandong. Orphaned of both parents from an early age, he endured the hardships of the human world, being fed and clothed from the charity of many families. From childhood, he yearned to cultivate immortality. As a youth, he took refuge on Gongshan Mountain north of his village, living a life of “wearing pine blossoms on his head, eating pine nuts, and drinking pine breeze with the moon over the pine stream.” In 1167 he began studying Daoism. In 1168, he became a disciple of Wang Chongyang, the founder of the Quanzhen School of Taoism. Between 1168 and 1170, Qiu Chuji accompanied Wang Chongyang in spreading the teachings across Shandong and Henan. In 1169, Wang Chongyang journeyed westward with four disciples: Ma Danyang, Qiu Chuji, Tan Chuduan and Liu Chuxuan. En route, he attained the Dao and ascended to Heaven in Bianliang, instructing: “Chuji’s studies shall be entrusted to Danyang.” Thereafter, under the tutelage of Ma Danyang, Qiu Chuji’s knowledge and Daoist cultivation advanced rapidly. The four disciples stayed three years together at Liujiang, where they conducted the burial of their master. After this period they parted ways, Qiu Chuji withdrew to Panxi Cave, residing there for six years. He later went to Longmen Mountain in Longzhou (present-day Baoji) for seven years of secluded cultivation, emerging as the founder of the Quanzhen Longmen school.

In 1219 Genghis Khan invited Changchun to visit him in a letter dated 15 May 1219 by present reckoning. Changchun left his home in Shandong in February 1220 and journeyed to Beijing. Learning that Genghis had gone West, he spent winter there. In February 1221, Changchun left, traversing modern-day eastern Mongolia to the camp of Genghis' youngest brother Otchigin near Lake Buyur in the upper Kerulen – today's Kherlen-Amur basin. From there he traveled southwestward up the Kerulen, crossing the Karakorum region in north-central Mongolia, and arrived at the Altai Mountains, probably passing near the present Uliastai. After traversing the Altai he visited Bishbalig, modern Ürümqi, and moved along the north side of the Tian Shan range to Lake Sutkol, today's Sairam, Almaliq (or Yining City), and the rich valley of the Ili.

From there, Changchun passed to Balasagun and Shu River, and across that river to Talas and the Tashkent region, and then over the Syr Darya to Samarkand, where he halted for some months. Finally, through the Iron Gates of Termit, over the Amu Darya, and by way of Balkh and northern Afghanistan, Changchun reached Genghis' camp near the Hindu Kush.

Changchun, had been invited to satisfy the interest of Genghis Khan in "the philosopher's stone" and the secret medicine of immortality. He explained the Taoist philosophy and the many ways to prolong life and was honest in saying there was no secret medicine of immortality. The two had 12 in-depth conversations. Genghis Khan honoured him with the title Spirit Immortal. Genghis also made Changchun in charge of all religious persons in the empire. Their conversations were recorded in the book Xuanfeng qinghui lu.

The Yenisei area had a community of weavers of ethnic Han origin. Similarly, Samarkand and Outer Mongolia both had artisans of Han origin, as observed by Changchun. After the Mongol conquest of Central Asia, foreigners were chosen as administrators. Co-management with Han and Khitans of gardens and fields in Samarqand was enacted as a requirement since Muslims were not allowed to manage without them.

Returning home, Changchun largely followed his outward route, with certain deviations, such as a visit to Hohhot. He was back in Beijing by the end of January 1224. From the narrative of his expedition, Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun written by his pupil Li Zhichang, we derive some of the most vivid pictures ever drawn of nature and man between the Great Wall of China and Kabul, between the Aral and Yellow Seas, peppered by poetic expressions.