Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun

Qiu Chang Chun Xi You Ji 长春真人西游记 (Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun) was a recordof journey of Taoist monk Qiu Chuji from Shandong China through central Asia to Persia topresent himself before Genghis Khan.

In 1220, on the invitation of Genghis Khan with a golden tablet, Qiu Chuji left his home town Shangdong with eighteen disciples, and travelled through Peking and travelled north. In June, they reached Te Hing and stayed in the Lung Yun Taosit Temple from summer to end of winter. On February of 1221, they resumed their journey. When asked by friends anddisciples when to expect the master to return, the master answered "In three years, three years". On February 3, they reached Chui Ping Kou, they saw Tai Hang Mountain to theirsouth. Travelled north then north east, they arrived at Kai Li Po salt lake.

Lake Buyur, Hulunbuir, Ulan Bator, Arkhangai, Altay Mountains, Bishbulik, Dzungaria, Samarkand and arrived at Hindu Kush of Afganistan in 1222 and presented himself before Genghis Khan.

The journey to Persia and back took three years, from 1220 to 1224. The record was written by a disciple Li Zhichang (李志常), who accompanied Qiu on the journey. The Travels consisted of two parts, the first part described the details of the travel to the west and back; the second part contains advices from Qiu Chuji to Genghis Khan.

Chang Chun Xi You Ji was published by another disciple Sun Xi(孙锡), with a preface dated 1228. Xi You Ji was included in Dao Zang (道藏 Depository of Taoist works), but was forgotten for more than five hundred years. Until 1795 Qing dynasty scholars
Qian Daxin(钱大昕) and Duan Yucai(段玉裁) rediscovered it from Dao Zang in the Xuan Miao Taoist Temple (玄妙观)in Suzhou,then Qian Daxin hand copied this work and distributed it.

Translations

Chang Chun Xi You Ji was first translated into Russian by the Archimandrite of Russian Orthodox Church Pekin Eccles Mission Palladius Kafarov in 1866 [ volume 4 of Record of the Pekin Eccles Mission ] . In 1867 M. Pauthier translated an abridged version of Xi You Ji from Hai Guo Tu Zhi [Wei Yuan: Hai Guo Tu Zhi, 1844]

1888, Dr. Emil Bretschneider, a Baltic German physician posted to the Russian Legation in Pekin, published his English translation of Chang Chun Xi you Ji [SI YOU KI, TRAVELS TO THE WEST OF KIU CH'ANG CH'UN, by Emil Bretschneider, in Medieval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources vol 1 1888 Trubner & Co, London; Reprint by Elibron Classics ISBN 1-4021-9303-3] .

References