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March 8, 2014 |
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In 1219 he was invited by Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol empire and greatest of Asiatic conquerors, to visit him. Genghis' letter of invitation, dated the 15 May 1219 (by present reckoning), has been preserved, and is among the curiosities of history; here the terrible warrior appears as a meek disciple of wisdom, modest and simple, almost Socratic in his self-examination, alive to many of the deepest truths of life and government. Chang Chun obeyed this summons; and leaving his home in Shantung (February 1220) journeyed first to Peking. Learning that Genghis had gone far west upon fresh conquests, the sage stayed the winter in Peking. In February 1221 he started again and crossed eastern Mongolia to the camp of Genghis' brother Ujughen, near Lake Bbr or Buyur in the upper basin of the Kerulun-Amur. Thence he travelled south-westward up the Kerulun, crossed the Karakorum region in north-central Mongolia, and so came to the Chinese Altai, probably passing near the present Uliassutai. After traversing the Altai he visited Bishbalig, answering to the modern Urumtsi, and moved along the north side of the Tian Shan range to lake Sairam, Almalig (or Kuija), and the rich valley of the Ili. We then trace him to the Chu, over this river to Talas and the Tashkent region, and over the Jaxartes (or Syr Dana) to Samarkand, where he halted for some months. Finally, through the Iron Gates of Termit, over the Oxus, and by way of Balkh and northern Afghanistan, Chang Chun reached Genghis' camp near the Hindu Kush. Returning home he followed much the same course as on his outward route: certain deviations, however, occur, such as a visit to Kuku-khoto. He was back in Peking by the end of January 1224. From the narrative of his expedition (the Hsi yu ki, written by his pupil and companion Li Chi Chang) we derive some of the most faithful and vivid pictures ever drawn of nature and man between the Great Wall of China and Kabul, between the Aral Sea|Aral and the Yellow Sea: we may particularly notice the sketches of the Mongols, and of the people of Samarkand and its neighborhood; the account of the fertility and products of the latter region, as of the Ili valley, at or near Almalig-Kulja; and the description of various great mountain ranges, peaks and defiles, such as the Chinese Altai, the Tian Shan, Mt Bogdo-ola (?), and the Iron Gates of Termit. There is, moreover, a noteworthy reference to a land apparently identical with the uppermost valley of the Yenisei. After his return Chang Chun lived at Peking till his death on 23 July 1227. By order of Genghis some of the former imperial garden grounds were made over to him, for the foundation of a Taoist monastery. Authorship of Journey to the West (Xi You Ji) was sometimes attributed to Qiu Chuji, but this is incorrect, that book was written by Wu Cheng'en. The confusion may have arisen from the similarity of the title to "Record of a Journey to the West" (Hsi Yu Ki). Qiu Chuji is a fictional character in the novels of Jin Yong.
The Seven Immortals
<center> <table border="1"> <tr> <td width="30%" align="center">Preceded by:<BR>Liu Chuxuan</td> <td width="40%" align="center">Head Daoist of Quanzhen ?-1227 </td> <td width="30%" align="center">Succeeded by:<br>Yin Zhiping</td> </tr> </table> </center> 1911 Category:1148 births Category:1227 deaths Category:Taoists Category:Taoism Category:Characters in written fiction zh:丘处机 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Qiu Chuji".
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