The Legend and Historical Reality of Qiu Chuji, the Perfected Changchun

by B. Tumenulzii

To understand the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries—the period often described as the “imperial age” of Mongol history—it is difficult to avoid Chinese sources. This is not because the Chinese were somehow exceptionally accomplished, but because the Mongols were once sufficiently powerful. Reckoning from the Mongol conquest of the northern territories of the Jin dynasty, including Beijing, the Mongols ruled China for 134 years. Although the state eventually disappeared, the people remained; there is therefore nothing objectionable in their continuing to write their own history.

Yet Chinese historical writings, literary works, and popular publications on Mongol history almost invariably repeat the story of “Qiu Chuji, the Perfected Changchun, paying an audience to Chinggis Khan.” According to this account, Chinggis Khan summoned the elderly Daoist in order to seek instruction in statecraft and methods of prolonging life. The Perfected Changchun, in turn, is said to have admonished him to “reduce killing and cherish the people.”¹ Chinese accounts further claim that (1) the Mongol armies thereafter committed fewer massacres and (2) deaths and casualties among the inhabitants of conquered territories were consequently greatly reduced.²

Over time, the Perfected Changchun was recast as Chinggis Khan's adviser on government, as a statesman, and even as a hero who “saved China from the iron hooves of the Mongols.” An unknown number of master's theses and doctoral dissertations have been completed on the basis of this interpretation, and in recent years the subject has even developed into a distinct field of research. In 2013, China also produced the film An End to Killing (Zhisha ling 止杀令), using cinematic art to promote this interpretation still further.³

Thus Temüjin—Chinggis Khan—who rose from tribal leader to Great Khan, who had no teacher throughout his life, and who founded an empire through extraordinary military and political ability, acquired, centuries after his death, a Chinese teacher named Qiu Chuji.

It might be tolerable if this were merely the way Chinese writers presented the matter. After all, China has never possessed historiography in the true sense, but only historical literature. Regrettably, however, many Mongol historians now explain the meeting between the Great Khan and the Perfected Changchun in terms strikingly similar to this artificially constructed Chinese narrative—indeed, at times in a manner that appears deliberately accommodating.

For example, in Saišiyal's monumental Chronicle of Chinggis Khan (Chengjisi han shiji 成吉思汗史记), the Perfected Changchun is described as “a statesman of far-reaching strategic vision.” Saišiyal writes: “From Chinggis Khan's perspective, the governance of a peaceful and stable state required learned and wise men.” This is entirely consistent with the Chinese explanation that Chinggis Khan invited the Perfected Changchun in order to consult him about statecraft. The book goes on to state: “Chinggis Khan's purpose in inviting the Perfected Changchun also included a desire to seek a method of extending his life, but this was not his principal objective.”⁴ This effectively denies what was, in fact, Chinggis Khan's sole purpose in inviting the elderly Daoist and interprets the meeting entirely as an exchange concerning politics and government.

Similarly, Academician Ch. Dalai's three-volume History of Mongolia states that Chinggis Khan “consulted the Perfected Changchun about methods for governing a great empire.”⁵ When the most influential and respected scholars in the field of Mongol history write in this manner, the general public will naturally understand, believe, and repeat the same account.

It is precisely for this reason that the present article is necessary.

To begin with, it is historically true that, in response to Chinggis Khan's summons, the Perfected Changchun travelled to Central Asia to meet the Great Khan. The Perfected Changchun, Qiu Chuji, was one of China's many Daoists and an important representative of the Quanzhen tradition, which emerged during the Jin dynasty. He occupies a significant place in the history of Chinese Daoism.

Li Zhichang, one of the nineteen disciples who accompanied Qiu Chuji, recorded what they saw along the route and later compiled Changchun zhenren xiyou ji (长春真人西游记; Record of the Perfected Changchun's Journey to the West), leaving later generations a valuable historical source.

The journey itself was remarkable. A seventy-two-year-old man travelled on horseback, by mule, and in an ox cart from Shandong in eastern East Asia to the south-western reaches of Central Asia. Measured only as a one-way journey and compared with the Long March of the Red Army under Mao Zedong, it was three times as long.⁶

In terms of present-day place-names, the route was approximately as follows. From Shandong, Qiu travelled through Mongol-occupied Beijing and the vicinity of Juyong Pass, then north-east across Xilingol and the Ujimqin grasslands to Hulun Lake. From there he followed the Kherlen River upstream to the headwaters region of the Three Rivers, crossed the entirety of present-day Mongolia from east to west, and reached the Altai Mountains.

There he established a Daoist temple and left nine disciples behind. He then crossed the Altai, the most difficult and dangerous mountain range on the journey, passed through the Khovd region of present-day Mongolia, proceeded along the edge of the Dzungarian Desert, and continued westward along the northern foothills of the Tian Shan. After skirting the Tian Shan, he turned south-west into the mountainous regions of present-day Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and, under Mongol military escort, arrived at Samarkand.

Because Chinggis Khan was occupied with military affairs, Qiu Chuji had to remain there for the entire winter. In the following spring, he travelled for more than twenty additional days before reaching northern Afghanistan and finally obtaining an audience with Chinggis Khan. The outward journey took one year; he remained in Central Asia for another year; and the entire expedition lasted exactly three years.

Two principal sources survive for the meetings between Chinggis Khan and the Perfected Changchun:

1. Li Zhichang's Changchun zhenren xiyou ji;⁷ and

2. Xuanfeng qinghui lu (玄风庆会录; Record of the Auspicious Gathering of the Mysterious Wind), in which Yelü Chucai, acting on Chinggis Khan's orders, recorded the Perfected Changchun's principal statements in Chinese.⁸

I. Did Chinggis Khan Consult the Perfected Changchun about “Statecraft,” and Did the Perfected Changchun Urge Him to “Reduce Killing”?

Li Zhichang records the first meeting between the two men in Changchun zhenren xiyou ji as follows:

It was the fifth day of the fourth month. After the party had settled at the encampment, they immediately went to pay audience to the Great Khan. Chinggis Khan said: “Other countries invited the Perfected One many times, yet you never went to them. Now you have come here from ten thousand li away, and I am greatly pleased.” The Perfected Changchun replied: “This poor Daoist has come in obedience to the summons; it is truly the will of Heaven.” Chinggis Khan was delighted. He offered him a seat and a banquet, then asked: “You, Immortal Master, have come from afar. Do you possess a miraculous medicine that can prolong life?” The Perfected Changchun replied: “There are methods for preserving health, but no medicine for immortality exists in this world.” Chinggis Khan commended his honesty and ordered two tents to be erected east of the imperial tent for his residence.⁹

Put in the plainest possible terms, once Chinggis Khan had fulfilled the courtesies of a host—offering his guest a seat and refreshments—he immediately turned to the central subject of the meeting: “Is there, or is there not, a medicine in this world that can prolong life?”

This demonstrates a simple fact: Chinggis Khan's sole purpose in summoning the elderly Daoist from such a great distance was to inquire about methods of extending life.

Chinggis Khan's interpreter then asked:

“People call the Master ‘an immortal whose life equals Heaven's.’ Is this a title you gave yourself, or one that others gave you?”

This question likewise remained entirely within the theme of longevity. The Perfected Changchun explained that he and three others had studied under the same master. The other three had died, while he alone remained alive; for that reason, people had come to call him by this title.

Chinggis Khan then asked Chinqai (Chinkhai), who had escorted the Perfected One from the Altai Mountains onward:

“What title should be bestowed upon the Perfected One?”

Following his minister's recommendation, the Great Khan issued the order:

“From this time forward, he shall be called shenxian (神仙, ‘divine immortal’).”¹⁰

The Mongolian expression originally used by Chinggis Khan was probably deed arsh, “Supreme Perfected One,” a designation consistent with Mongol terminology for Daoism. Li Zhichang's Chinese term shenxian represents the meaning as he understood it through translation.¹¹

This concluded the first meeting. At no point did Chinggis Khan utter a single word concerning government, politics, military affairs, or war.

A second meeting was scheduled for the fourteenth day of the fourth month. Because Chinggis Khan personally departed on campaign, however, it had to be postponed for six months, until the tenth month. The Perfected Changchun therefore had no choice but to return to Samarkand, “driving his donkey,”¹² and wait.

After such a long delay, the second meeting was unexpectedly brief. Unless Li Zhichang deliberately omitted details, he recorded it in only one sentence:

“They met that night, ate curds together, and he then took his leave.”¹³

The third meeting, held soon afterward, was more formal. Li Zhichang records that the Great Khan ordered a ritual hall to be prepared, dismissed all female attendants, had lamps and candles lit on both sides, and retained only Chinqai, the cherbi or court attendant. As the Perfected One expounded Daoist scriptures, the Grand Preceptor A-hai translated his words into Mongolian and reported them to the Khan, who was highly satisfied.¹⁴

The fourth meeting is recorded as follows:

“On the night of the nineteenth, under a brilliant moon, the Great Khan again summoned the Perfected One and asked him to explain the teachings. The Great Khan was greatly pleased.”¹⁵

The fifth meeting is described in these terms:

<>“On the twenty-third, the Great Khan again summoned the Perfected One into his presence. The ceremonial arrangements were as solemn as before. The Great Khan was humble in manner, listened attentively to the instruction, and ordered that it be recorded in detail. He then said to his close attendants: ‘The Venerable Immortal Master has spoken three times on methods for prolonging life. I have engraved them deeply in my mind. This matter must not be divulged or told to others.’”¹⁶

 

In fact, these five occasions constituted the entirety of the formal meetings between Chinggis Khan and the Perfected Changchun.

The expressions repeatedly used in the text—“preaching the Way” and “expounding the teachings”—are unambiguous. They refer to Daoist doctrine and Daoist theories of health cultivation. In none of the five formal meetings did either Chinggis Khan or the Perfected Changchun address military affairs, warfare, politics, or government.

By the time the Perfected Changchun arrived, Chinggis Khan's great campaign against Khwarazm (Sarta'ul) had already achieved decisive victory. Jebe and Sübe'etei were still campaigning among the Kipchaks, Rus', and Bulgars, but the western expedition as a whole had entered the stage of withdrawal and return. In the following year, the spring of 1223, Chinggis Khan's army began moving slowly eastward from Afghanistan through Samarkand. During this period, the Perfected Changchun occasionally met the Khan. Li Zhichang records: “While accompanying the Great Khan on his eastward return, he frequently expounded the teachings of the Daoist tradition.”¹⁸ It is impossible to establish how many meetings “frequently” denotes, but the passage again confirms that the subject of their conversations remained Daoist doctrine.

In the second month of the following year, the Perfected Changchun asked Chinggis Khan for permission to “return to his mountain cave.” The Great Khan said: “I too shall return east. Why do we not travel together?” The Perfected One replied:

“It would be better for this poor Daoist to return ahead of you. I have now answered all the questions Your Majesty previously asked, and therefore request leave to depart.”¹⁷

Chinggis Khan granted the request.

The elderly Daoist then spent a full year returning to the Jin realm by way of the region of present-day Hohhot. Chinggis Khan, meanwhile, celebrated his victories, rewarded meritorious officers, spent the summer in places he favoured, hunted and rested, and proceeded gradually eastward before eventually returning to the Great Khan's palace in the Black Forest on the Tuul River.

Chinese historiography, however, narrates this historical sequence as follows: “Temüjin accepted the Perfected Changchun's instruction, began to restrain his edge, ceased killing, and returned to his homeland.”

This is not what happened.

Chinggis Khan ended the Central Asian war and returned east in order to implement an established strategy: the destruction of his two great enemies, the Jin dynasty and the repeatedly unreliable Western Xia. Subsequent events bear this out. After returning to Mongolia and spending the summer there, he again led a major army against Western Xia.

He later destroyed Western Xia, occupied its dependent territories and parts of the Jin lands in the Yellow River region, and, before his death, formulated the strategic arrangements for the Jin dynasty's complete destruction.

Because Changchun zhenren xiyou ji devotes extensive space to landscapes along the route and poems improvised by the Perfected One, some readers may wonder whether Li Zhichang intentionally or unintentionally omitted passages in which the Perfected Changchun instructed Chinggis Khan in statecraft or urged him to reduce killing.

Some Chinese scholars of the Perfected Changchun defend this possibility by arguing: “Because Chinggis Khan ordered that the matter not be disclosed, Li Zhichang could not record it.”

This explanation is untenable. Chinggis Khan's injunction against disclosure explicitly referred to “the methods for prolonging life explained three times by the Venerable Immortal Master.” As the account of the fifth meeting makes perfectly clear, the order did not concern any other subject.

Did Chinggis Khan, then, consult the Perfected Changchun about statecraft? Did the Perfected Changchun urge him to reduce killing?

The source capable of providing a final answer is not Changchun zhenren xiyou ji, but another document devoted specifically to the Perfected Changchun's teachings in Central Asia: Xuanfeng qinghui lu.

This text was not compiled by an ordinary observer. It was recorded on command by Yelü Chucai, one of Chinggis Khan's most trusted ministers. Xuanfeng qinghui lu preserves in full the contents of the last three formal doctrinal expositions among the five meetings; the first two, as noted above, were largely ceremonial. Because Chinggis Khan himself ordered the work to be recorded and preserved, deliberate excision of the Perfected One's words is inconceivable, and even accidental omission is highly unlikely.

Having read the complete text of Xuanfeng qinghui lu, I find that the “consultation on statecraft” and “admonition to reduce killing” long proclaimed in Chinese scholarship simply do not appear in it. Xuanfeng qinghui lu is entirely a record of discourses on Daoist doctrine, as its title itself indicates.

The text does, however, contain two passages concerning society and government. Although these depart from the subject of health and longevity, they represent neither an inquiry by Chinggis Khan into statecraft nor an attempt by the Perfected Changchun to stop warfare. Translated into modern language, the passages read as follows:

Item 32

The region east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River¹⁹ is the most fertile land under Heaven. It produces excellent grain, vegetables, and fruit, and supplies the entire realm with fish, salt, and silk. Since antiquity, those who have possessed this region have been able to establish powerful states; rulers of successive dynasties have therefore all competed for it. Today, the inhabitants have been displaced by warfare and have not yet been resettled. If officials who understand the people's suffering and who are prudent and worthy were appointed to govern them, and if the region were exempted from taxation and military service for three years, the state would secure a stable supply of military and administrative provisions, while the people's livelihood would recover. If the people were settled and nourished in this way, so that their children and grandchildren could live and work in peace, Heaven would surely protect Your Majesty.

Item 33

In response to Your Majesty's summons, I have come from ten thousand li away and have already explained methods for regulating the body and strengthening one's constitution. Why, then, should I withhold methods for governing the state and nurturing the people? As I said earlier, in the region east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River, honest and capable officials should be appointed to govern in accordance with Your Majesty's edicts; this would surely accord with Heaven's will. If ignorant and incompetent officials are appointed, the undertaking will certainly fail and instead bring calamity. When the Jin first founded their state in the north-east, they were initially unfamiliar with the customs of the Central Plain. They therefore appointed Liu Yu, a man of the Song, to govern the Central Plain on their behalf for eight years, and assumed direct control only after political conditions had stabilized. This is a method of governance worthy of consideration when a state has only recently been pacified. I hope Your Majesty will reflect upon it.

These two passages express essentially the same point: Chinggis Khan should appoint worthy officials in the region east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River and exempt its inhabitants from taxation. The “methods for governing the state and nurturing the people” that the Perfected Changchun claimed not to withhold amounted to no more than this. Not a single sentence urged Chinggis Khan to reduce killing.

The Perfected Changchun singled out this region because it was his native area and the place where he had practised and resided. In present-day terms, the elderly Daoist was primarily seeking favourable policies for his homeland and for his own interests. What he asked Chinggis Khan to protect was only the Chinese-inhabited territory within the Jin realm—not, as some contemporary Chinese historians claim, an appeal made “on behalf of all China and the Han people for Chinggis Khan to save them.”

In Qiu Chuji's lifetime, people did not possess modern nation-state concepts corresponding to today's terms “Zhonghua,” “China,” or “the Han nation.” Individuals identified themselves more commonly by the dynasty to which they belonged: under the Han they were called “Han people,” under the Yuan “Yuan people,” and under the Qing “people” or “subjects of the Great Qing.”²⁰

When Qiu Chuji was born, the Jin dynasty had already existed for thirty-three years, and the region east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River had belonged to the Jin for twenty-two years. In other words, at birth Qiu Chuji was not a so-called “Chinese”; he was a subject of the Jin dynasty, and the Jin was his country.

A close examination of the two core sources, Changchun zhenren xiyou ji and Xuanfeng qinghui lu, therefore permits a clear conclusion: Chinggis Khan never consulted the Perfected Changchun about any supposed “art of government,” and the Perfected Changchun never admonished Chinggis Khan to “reduce killing.” These claims are historical narratives arbitrarily fabricated by later Chinese literati.

II. The Real Reason the Perfected Changchun Met Chinggis Khan

The Perfected Changchun had reportedly “repeatedly refused and never attended” even when summoned by the emperors of the Southern Song and Jin dynasties.²¹ Why, then, did he ultimately decide to answer the summons of Chinggis Khan—a ruler who spoke another language, belonged to another state, and was regarded by Chinese people as a “northern barbarian who knew only killing”? The answer is directly connected to the progress of the Mongol Empire's wars of conquest.

In 1219, when the Perfected Changchun received Chinggis Khan's summons, the Jin capital of Zhongdu (present-day Beijing) had already been in Mongol hands for four years, and extensive frontier territories had successively been incorporated into the Mongol realm. The fall of the Jin was merely a matter of time.

An elderly man who had devoted himself to Daoist cultivation for more than fifty years could hardly have failed to recognize a transformation of such magnitude. According to the political assumptions of Chinese people at the time, the person extending the invitation was already, in effect, his “future master.”

Chinggis Khan sent his close retainer Liu Zhonglu to escort him. Liu carried a gold tablet bearing a tiger-head design, or paifu, which stated: “To see this tablet is as to see Our person; all shall act in accordance with the edict.”²² Li Zhichang writes in Changchun zhenren xiyou ji: “The Master understood that this summons could no longer be declined.”²³ This sentence conveys precisely the deeper meaning described above.

For the Perfected Changchun, a summons from the future ruler represented not only political recognition but also a guarantee of his continued survival. This was the sole genuine reason he had no choice but to meet Chinggis Khan.

His western journey was therefore not, as Chinese historiography portrays it, a romantic expedition in which he voluntarily transformed himself into an emissary of peace and spread the wings of a dove as he flew toward the Mongol camp. It was, rather, a decision made when “the blade was already at his throat”—a mission that had to be completed.

The Perfected Changchun left his homeland in the same month that he received the summons. The great distance, the length of the journey, and the dangers of the Gobi and desert proved extremely difficult for the elderly man, however, and on two occasions he asked to discontinue the advance.

The first occurred after he had left his Daoist temple in Laizhou and reached Beijing. Hearing that Chinggis Khan's encampment was moving progressively westward, he said: “It would be better to wait until the Great Khan returns east and then go to meet him.”²⁴ Liu Zhonglu, who had been ordered to command the escorting troops, refused.

The second occasion arose halfway through the journey, when the party reached the territory administered by Chinqai at the foot of the Altai Mountains. The Perfected Changchun requested: “I hope to spend the winter here and await the Great Khan's return from campaign.” Chinqai replied: “If the Immortal Master remains here, I shall be held guilty.”²⁵ He then added: “I am willing to continue escorting the Master onward.”²⁶ He accompanied the Perfected Changchun all the way to “Baran Kheer,” west of Samarkand, where Chinggis Khan's campaign headquarters was then located.

By this time, the Perfected Changchun's physical condition was already poor. Yelü Chucai, who also participated in recording the discussions, even wrote: “Most of the time his body was in severe pain, and he might die at any moment....”²⁷

His health was plainly a matter of grave concern. The Perfected Changchun died only four years after returning from Central Asia. He had left home at nineteen to practise the Dao and had spent his life in austere cultivation, seeking health and longevity. Yet in the end he outlived Chinggis Khan—who spent decades on horseback and in warfare—by only fourteen years.

Twelve years after the Perfected Changchun met Chinggis Khan, the Jin dynasty, which had existed for 119 years, finally fell. The Perfected Changchun died seven years before this tragic moment. Whether this should be considered fortunate is difficult to say, for he had long understood with complete clarity that the Jin would ultimately be destroyed.

III. Chinggis Khan's Sole Reason for Inviting the Perfected Changchun

At his first meeting with the Perfected Changchun, Chinggis Khan immediately asked: “You, Immortal Master, have come from afar. Do you possess a miraculous medicine that can prolong life?” This makes clear that, unlike some emperors of ancient China, he was not seeking an elixir that would render a human being immortal. By the thirteenth century, human societies had long recognized the simple fact that “human beings cannot live forever.”

Before inviting the Perfected Changchun, during the campaign against Khwarazm (Sarta'ul), his empress Yesüi had said to him: “If Your Majesty's body, lofty as a great mountain, should one day fall, who will rule the many Mongol people? Among the four sons born to you, who will inherit the great throne?” Chinggis Khan replied:

“I had somehow imagined that I would not follow my ancestors in death, and so I forgot this matter. It was as though death would pass me by; I had never seriously considered it.”

He then assembled his ministers to discuss the succession and ultimately designated Ögedei as the next Great Khan.²⁸

If Chinggis Khan could already speak about death so candidly and explicitly, how could he suddenly have imagined that he might attain immortality merely upon meeting a Daoist from China?

The wish to prolong one's life is a natural desire in old age, shared by rulers and commoners alike. As sovereign of a state, however, Chinggis Khan had access to health advice and medical resources far beyond those available to ordinary people. Why, then, did he summon the Perfected Changchun rather than consult other physicians or shamans?

The answer lies in the fact that Chinese Daoism had for centuries energetically advertised its allegedly miraculous powers of preserving health and extending life, while continually amplifying their aura of mystery. The fundamental aims of Daoist practice included cultivating health, prolonging life, and rescuing people from suffering. To achieve these goals, Daoists commonly undertook long periods of disciplined practice—often lasting more than a decade—including quieting the mind and nurturing one's nature, abstention from grain or food, sexual restraint, and the compounding of elixirs.

Daoism had long promoted claims such as the ability “to prolong life” and even “to become an immortal who never dies,” claims whose truth was difficult to determine. These ideas strongly attracted generations of Chinese peasants and commoners, many of whom consequently joined Daoist movements. The markedly superstitious character of these teachings also suited the cultural and intellectual horizons of ordinary people at the time. Daoism therefore occupied a much broader social space among the populace than Confucian learning.

Over time, reports of Daoism's wondrous powers circulated through various channels beyond China and into neighbouring lands. Mongol tribes had bordered the Jin dynasty since ancient times and maintained frequent contact through both warfare and trade. They would therefore have heard at least something about Daoism and its purportedly miraculous techniques of health cultivation.

I further infer that the person who actually advised Chinggis Khan to invite the Perfected Changchun and seek methods of extending life was the Chinese official Liu Zhonglu. Liu was already serving as a Chinese imperial physician at Chinggis Khan's side.²⁹ As a physician, it was entirely within his duties to report to Chinggis Khan the Daoist claims about health and longevity that he had heard. Chinggis Khan later bestowed a tiger-head tablet on Liu and ordered him to escort the Perfected Changchun in accordance with the summons. This, too, conformed to a common practice of premodern monarchy: the minister who proposed a measure was made responsible for carrying it out.

IV. The Logic by Which the Meeting Was Recast as a “Consultation on Statecraft”

When Chinggis Khan summoned the Perfected Changchun, he was already over sixty. Apart from the conquest of Western Xia, the major wars of conquest of his lifetime had essentially been completed. In age, experience, and political judgement, he had long passed the stage at which he needed to ask others how to govern. He had instead reached the point at which he could teach statecraft to others. In modern terms, he was at the age of writing memoirs and reviewing the achievements of his life.

Why, then, was the straightforward story of a ruler who summoned a long-secluded Daoist to ask whether life could be prolonged subsequently rewritten as an occasion on which Chinggis Khan “consulted the Perfected Changchun about statecraft”?

The logic behind this transformation is, in my view, quite simple. The inviter was a ruler of the “northern barbarians,” supposedly a man who “knew only how to kill and plunder and did not understand government.” The invited man, by contrast, was an eminent Daoist from “China, with its several-thousand-year civilizational tradition.” The latter therefore had to become the teacher, while Chinggis Khan could only be cast as the student. The relationship between the two was artificially reshaped into one of master and disciple, and the story was accordingly rewritten as a “consultation with the Perfected Changchun on statecraft.”

In other words, this narrative is not grounded in historical fact. It rests on a preconceived notion of cultural superiority: Chinese civilization is assumed to be inherently superior to the peoples of the north, and therefore even a conqueror such as Chinggis Khan must be assigned a “Chinese mentor” to civilize him on the spiritual and cultural plane. This is the internal logic from which the narrative arose.

In traditional Chinese society, Daoists were not officials engaged in the administration of the state. Their principal functions were religious cultivation, health preservation, and the transmission of teachings, and they ordinarily remained distant from politics and secular society. Daoists were not, in other words, specialists in government.

On the contrary, because Daoists possessed established temples and a relatively secure livelihood while occupying a comparatively low position in society, a number of peasant rebellions in Chinese history were initiated or led by Daoists. Han Shantong, for example, an early advocate of the armed anti-Yuan movement at the end of the dynasty, was a Daoist. Before the rise of Zhu Yuanzhang, it was largely the rebellions associated with such figures that shook the foundations of Yuan rule and accelerated the dynasty's decline.

V. The Principal Content of the Perfected Changchun's Advice on Health and Longevity

As noted above, the substance of the Perfected Changchun's statements to Chinggis Khan concerned health cultivation and the extension of life. It is therefore useful to summarize them briefly. In essence, the secret of health and longevity that he offered Chinggis Khan consisted of a single central proposition: sexual restraint.

According to Changchun zhenren xiyou ji, the Perfected Changchun told Chinggis Khan:

“An ordinary man has only one wife, yet excessive sexual activity can still damage his body. Your Majesty has many wives and consorts in the imperial household; how, then, can your body remain healthy?”³⁰

He consequently advised Chinggis Khan:

“Sexual intercourse once every ten days is sufficient.³¹ There is a Chinese saying: ‘A thousand days of taking medicine are not as beneficial as a single night spent sleeping alone.’”

The meaning is that sexual restraint contributes more to health than prolonged reliance on medicine.

From antiquity, not only Daoism but also traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese culture more broadly have held that excessive sexual activity harms the body. Chinese still contains expressions such as “one drop of semen equals ten drops of blood,” emphasizing that vital essence is exceedingly precious and should be conserved. Such a theory of health may perhaps suit populations living in humid regions and subsisting principally on vegetables and fruit, but it is difficult to accept it as a universal law applicable to all humanity.

The Perfected Changchun evidently imagined Chinggis Khan in the image of Chinese emperors who had become immersed in wine and sensual pleasure and died from excess. Yet, having spent much of his life in mountain temples, he appears not to have understood the way of life of nomadic rulers. Unlike sovereigns of sedentary civilizations—Chinese emperors in particular—rulers of the steppe did not immediately construct great palaces and vast harems upon ascending the throne, then abandon themselves to luxury and sensual indulgence. It is well known that Chinggis Khan spent most of his life in nomadic encampments and on horseback.

The Perfected Changchun had, in effect, chosen the wrong “student.” This is confirmed by their final exchange. After hearing all of the Perfected Changchun's statements, Chinggis Khan reportedly concluded: “Everything you have said is important; it is merely very difficult to put into practice.”³²

This was a tactful and diplomatic response. Its real meaning was: “Your proposals are not practically workable for me, and I cannot accept them.” Chinggis Khan politely acknowledged the Perfected Changchun's advice, but he did not in fact adopt his recommendations concerning health and longevity.

VI. Several Further Observations

1. The Actual Outcome of the Meeting between Chinggis Khan and the Perfected Changchun

Chinggis Khan summoned the Perfected Changchun from ten thousand li away, yet ultimately obtained from him nothing that genuinely met his needs. The Perfected Changchun, by contrast, returned richly rewarded. He had initially hoped only to use the opportunity to establish merit before the new ruler, gain his confidence, and at minimum secure his own safety. What he received far exceeded those expectations.

Perhaps out of sympathy for the hardships the Perfected Changchun had endured during three years of travel, Chinggis Khan not only granted him a gold tiger tablet but also ordered: “All who see this tablet shall know that he is the deed arshi—the Supreme Perfected One, an eminent master of the Dao.”

Chinggis Khan also issued a further edict: “All ordained monks and nuns under Heaven shall be placed under his authority.”³³ This was effectively an appointment of the Perfected Changchun as the supreme leader of the religious establishment in China.

After returning from his meeting with Chinggis Khan, the Perfected Changchun's reputation among the Chinese population increased dramatically, and he was almost worshipped as a divinity. His disciple Li Zhichang wrote excitedly: “After the Master's return ... Daoists gathered from the four quarters; the gates of the Dao opened wide, and its flourishing increased a hundredfold over former times.”³⁴

The Perfected Changchun used the status and authority granted by the future ruler to spread Daoism vigorously, especially the Quanzhen tradition, and thereby secured an important place in Chinese history. Chinese historians often state that “Daoism flourished greatly under the Yuan.” Its true beginning lay in the aftermath of this meeting.

2. The Claim That the Perfected Changchun Was Ordered by the Jin to Spy on the Mongol Army

Neither the suspicions of some Mongol scholars that the Perfected Changchun was a spy dispatched by the Jin dynasty nor the efforts of some Chinese scholars to add further lustre to his reputation through this claim are convincing.

By that time, the Jin capital had already fallen and one-third of the dynasty's territory had been occupied by the Mongols. Mongol armies were operating directly on the Jin frontier. The Jin could obtain intelligence about Mongol forces without difficulty. Why would it have sent the Perfected Changchun all the way to Central Asia, by such an extraordinarily long route, merely to observe the Mongol army? The claim lacks elementary logical foundation.

3. The Truth about the Perfected Changchun

Whether judged by the standards of the thirteenth century or those of the present, the Perfected Changchun may be described as a traitor to his country in the fullest sense. After receiving a summons from Chinggis Khan, the powerful foreign invader, he left a homeland devastated and scarred by war, went before the commander of the invading army, and did everything in his power to teach him how to extend his life.

If such a person cannot be called a “traitor” but is instead treated as a great figure and praised, then that people has lost its most basic capacity to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from falsehood. It may even develop a value system that venerates betrayal.

4. The Authenticity of the So-Called “Invitation Letter from Chinggis Khan to the Perfected Changchun”

The so-called Invitation Letter from Chinggis Khan to the Perfected Changchun was attached to the story by later writers and is not a reliable historical document. The original text of Changchun zhenren xiyou ji records only that “more than twenty Mongol envoys wearing gold tiger-head tablets arrived, conveyed the Great Khan's command, and invited the Perfected One to come.”³⁵ It contains no reference whatsoever to a written “invitation letter.”

The other major source concerning the Perfected Changchun, Xuanfeng qinghui lu, likewise says nothing about any such letter. The purported invitation was actually added as an annotation by the Mongolist and Chinese scholar Wang Guowei when Changchun zhenren xiyou ji was published in 1926. Wang himself explicitly stated that the letter did not come from Changchun zhenren xiyou ji, but had been transcribed from Chuo geng lu (辍耕录; Record Written after Retiring from the Plough).³⁶

Chuo geng lu, however, is not a historical chronicle. It is a miscellaneous collection of private notes containing poetry, folk tales, court legends, supernatural stories, and other forms of literary material.

More importantly, the work was completed 143 years after the Perfected Changchun's western journey. Its author, Tao Zongyi, was neither a Daoist believer nor a scholar of the Perfected Changchun, and he never wrote a specialized study of the journey. He was simply a rural Yuan-period man of letters who lived in retirement, enjoyed reading and writing, and recorded many anecdotes that he had heard at second hand.

Chuo geng lu preserves only two purported letters: an invitation from Chinggis Khan to the Perfected Changchun and a reply from the Perfected Changchun to Chinggis Khan. There are ample grounds for treating both as later fabrications. Four considerations are particularly important.

First, no source explains the provenance or transmission of either letter. The historical record provides no account of where they came from, how they were preserved, or why they survived into later times. They therefore lack even the most basic documentation of provenance.

Second, under the historical conditions of the period, Tao Zongyi could scarcely have seen a personal letter from Chinggis Khan. There were no newspapers or comparable media of circulation. How could an ordinary writer living in the countryside have obtained an official letter issued by the Great Khan?

Third, the meeting between the Perfected Changchun and Chinggis Khan had itself become a widely circulated legend. In Chinese society it was regarded as a heroic event of exceptional romance and was transmitted orally over a long period, generating many versions in popular tradition. Living under the Yuan, Tao Zongyi very likely heard several forms of these stories and then used his own literary talent for tales of marvels and the supernatural to “invent” an exchange of letters between the two elderly men.

Fourth, and most importantly, Li Zhichang's Changchun zhenren xiyou ji does not mention the letters at all. Li recorded such specific details as the gold tiger tablets worn by the Mongol envoys and the number of men in the delegation. If a formal invitation personally issued by Chinggis Khan had actually existed, it would unquestionably have been a source of enormous honour to the Perfected Changchun and his disciples, something to be proclaimed repeatedly. Even if Li had not reproduced it in full, he could not possibly have omitted all mention of it.

Wang Guowei is celebrated as one of the most distinguished historians of the Republican period. It is therefore difficult to understand why he inserted material from a literary, privately compiled collection of uncertain provenance directly into Changchun zhenren xiyou ji as though it were a historical document, without first subjecting it to rigorous textual criticism.

Still more unacceptable, in the author's view, is the fact that some Mongol historians subsequently translated the supposed “invitation letter” into Mongolian without verification and proceeded to cite it as historical evidence in research on the meeting between Chinggis Khan and the Perfected Changchun.

Notes

1. Yuan shi (元史; History of the Yuan), “Biography of Qiu Chuji.”

2. Chinese-language Wikipedia and Baidu Baike.

3. Zhisha ling (止杀令), internationally released as An End to Killing.

4. Saišiyal, Chengjisi han shiji (成吉思汗史记; Chronicle of Chinggis Khan; Mongolian title: Чингис хааны товчоон), 2019 ed., vol. 2, p. 594.

5. Ch. Dalai (Ч. Далай), Menggu shi (蒙古史; History of Mongolia; Mongolian title: Монголын түүх), vol. 2 (Hohhot: Inner Mongolia People's Publishing House, 2010), p. 178. Author's note: The quoted passage does not connect smoothly with its surrounding text, possibly because an error occurred when it was transcribed into the traditional Mongolian script.

6. The calculation here is based not on the officially publicized route, but on the route actually traversed during Mao's Long March.

7. Li Zhichang, Changchun zhenren xiyou ji (长春真人西游记), Mongolian trans. Deju (Hohhot: Inner Mongolia Culture Press, 2001).

8. Xuanfeng qinghui lu (玄风庆会录). The Chinese original is readily available online.

9. Deju's translation is rather stiff. After comparison with the Chinese original, some wording has therefore been adopted from Saišiyal's Chengjisi han shiji.

10. On the title shenxian bestowed by Chinggis Khan upon the Perfected Changchun: Deju renders it as sahvvs (“spirit” or “guardian deity”), whereas Saišiyal translates it as “Huṭagt Arsh.” Before evaluating these Mongolian renderings, it must first be recognized that Chinggis Khan originally spoke in Mongolian; Li Zhichang merely translated or recorded the term in Chinese as shenxian. Premodern Mongols classified Daoist practitioners by level of attainment into Bombo and Arsh, while the category arshi was itself divided into ikh arshi (“Great Perfected One”) and deed arshi (“Supreme Perfected One”). The title Chinggis Khan conferred on the Perfected Changchun was probably the Mongolian deed arsh. Because Mongolian arshi can correspond to the Chinese “immortal,” Li Zhichang's rendering of deed arshi as shenxian is defensible at the literal level. When translating this Chinese rendering back into Mongolian today, however, one should not be constrained by the surface meaning of the Chinese characters, but should attempt to restore the original Mongolian designation. Huṭagt is an honorific for a reincarnate Buddhist lama and is clearly inappropriate for a Daoist figure. Although shenxian can also be translated literally as sahvvs (“spirit”), arshi (“Perfected One”) is the most accurate term for a Daoist practitioner and the one most consistent with the historical context.

11. Sodbilge (Содбилэг), Zongjiao cidian (宗教词典; Dictionary of Religion) (Hohhot: Inner Mongolia Education Press, 1996).

12. Changchun zhenren xiyou ji, Mongolian trans. Deju, p. 137.

13. Ibid., p. 152.

14. Ibid., p. 153.

15. Ibid., p. 153.

16. Ibid., pp. 153–54.

17. Ibid., p. 157.

18. Ibid., p. 154.

19. At the time, “Shandong” and “Hebei” were not names of administrative provinces under the Jin and should not be understood as corresponding to the present-day provinces of Shandong and Hebei. They referred respectively to the regions east of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River—effectively the Central Plain, or northern China.

20. The names or concepts “China” and “Han nationality” acquired their modern meanings only after the Qing dynasty (the Great Qing Empire).

21. Chinese scholarship has long attempted to portray the Perfected Changchun as a great thinker who “held emperors in contempt.” It is said that the Southern Song emperor invited him in 1216 and the Jin emperor in 1219, but that he answered neither summons. Other sources, however, state that he met Emperor Shizong of Jin three times; the accounts are therefore contradictory.

22. Changchun zhenren xiyou ji, p. 5.

23. Ibid., p. 11.

24. Ibid., pp. 16–17.

25. Ibid., p. 68.

26. Ibid., p. 68.

27. Ch. Dalai, History of Mongolia, vol. 2, p. 180.

28. See The Secret History of the Mongols, sec. 254, annotated ed. by Ts. Damdinsüren (Ц. Дамдинсүрэн) (Hohhot: Inner Mongolia People's Publishing House, 1997).

29. Saišiyal, Chronicle of Chinggis Khan, vol. 2, p. 591.

30. Xuanfeng qinghui lu, line 10.

31. Ibid., line 20.

32. Ibid., line 36.

33. Changchun zhenren xiyou ji, pp. 197–98.

34. Ibid., pp. 180–81.

35. Ibid., p. 6.

36. Ibid., pp. 6–7.