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Ge Hong (Chinese:葛洪;pinyin:Gě Hóng;Wade–Giles:Ko Hung; b. 283[1][2] – d. 343[1] or 364[2]),courtesy nameZhichuan (稚川), was a Chinese linguist, philosopher, physician, politician, and writer during theEastern Jin dynasty. He was the author ofEssays on Chinese Characters, theBaopuzi, theEmergency Formulae at an Elbow's Length,[3] among others. He was the originator offirst aid intraditional Chinese medicine and influenced later generations.
He also took on the nameBaopuzi (Chinese:抱朴子), with a literal meaning of embracing simplicity, core qualities, and untempted by material desires.
Ge Hong was born nearJurong county in AD 283, as the third son into a well-established family originally fromEastern Wu.
His ancestor Ge Xi (葛奚) once served in the high ranking position of Dahonglu (大鸿胪) inEastern Wu. His great-uncle wasGe Xuan (葛玄) (also known as GeXianweng), an alchemist during theThree Kingdoms period. He studied alchemy and Taoism withZuo Ci.
His father, Ge Ti (葛悌), served as the prefect of Shaoling (邵陵) after the nation entered theJin Dynasty. He died when Ge Hong was 13 and his family went into decline.
Ge Hong is of an ascetic nature and did not like honor and gain. He was not especially fond of classic literature, but rather especially appreciated the guidance of the divine. Ge Hong studiedChinese alchemy under Ge Xuan's disciple Zheng Yin (郑隐).[4]
By Ge Hong's time, although the family was declining, he was employed in numerous high ranking positions within the bureaucracy of the time.
In his public service role as an official, he was often asked to appraise his friends and acquaintances as possible candidates for government office positions and was also chosen to perform military service. However, he was unhappy with his life as an official and general. Although he never rejectedConfucianism, he grew interested inTaoist cultivation andelixirs to achieve the spiritual freedoms ofTaoist Immortality.
In the second year ofTai'an in theWestern Jin Dynasty (AD 303), Ge Hong was promoted due to his contributions in calming the peasant uprising led byShi Bing inYangzhou.
In the first year of Guangxi (AD 306), Ji Han (嵇含), the newly promoted governor ofGuangzhou, recommended Ge Hong to join the ranks as an army official. Ge Hong first went to Guangzhou, but after Ji Han was killed, he went toMount Luofu to live in seclusion. There, he gatheredherbal medicine, refinedelixirs, and documented numerous cases of illness.
Later, Ge Hong became a disciple of Bao Liang (鲍靓), then prefect ofNanhai, from whom he learned alchemy and received theSanhuangjing. He also married Bao Liang's daughterBao Gu, who excelled in the techniques ofmoxibustion.
In the second year of Jianxing ofEmperor Min (AD 313), Ge Hong returned to his hometown, but still lived in seclusion and did not work as an official. In the first year of Jianwu ofEmperor Yuan of Jin (AD 317), theInner andOuter Chapters ofBaopuzi were written.
In the first year ofXianhe (AD 326), he was called byWang Dao to serve as under the position of "Zhubo" (主簿), later promoted to "consulting general" (咨议将军).
In the 7th year of Xianhe, he heard thatJiaozhi County (present-dayVietnam) producedcinnabar, and askedEmperor Cheng to serve as the magistrate of Gouti (句屚) (near present-eraHà Sơn Bình province).[5] After receiving the Emperor's consent, his family traveled south. When he arrived in Guangzhou, he was asked to remain, so Ge Hong once again lived in seclusion in Mount Luofu to refine elixirs.[6][7]
His autobiography was the last part of his collected writings.[8] Referring to his years as an official in Guangzhou, he wrote that "Honor and status, are like guests yet are not common goods, as they leave they cannot be kept."[9]
Hong's main contributions were inChinese alchemy and medicine, and also as a religious scholar integratingConfucianism andTaoism. Ge Hong questioned ancient writings and was against the traditionalism of the time, whereby older writings were valued while newer ideas were less respected, and instead emphasized innovation and methods which involved experimentation and results. This was especially the case in his work in medicine and alchemy. In medical practice, Ge Hong read a large number of medical books in his analysis and research. He summarized treatment experience and collected knowledge from folk treatments, compiling works such as the hundred-scrolled bookYuhanfang (Chinese:玉函方).
In his bookEmergency Formulae at an Elbow's Length (Chinese:肘后备急方), he suggested treating rabies patients by applying the brain matter of rabid dogs onto the bite wound,[10] and extractions from the plantArtemisia annua to treat malaria. The latter method inspired the works of the Chinese malariologist and pharmaceutical chemistTu Youyou, which led to the discovery ofartemisinin extracted from the same plant, part of the 2015Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[11]
Hong was knowledgeable aboutchemistry. He documented theredox reaction ofmercury. He also discovered thatchalcanthite (copper sulfate pentahydrate) can be transformed to a golden bronze-like alloy, using the redox reaction involvingcopper sulfate andiron.
There is a hall in Xiaolingfeng Temple (小灵峰寺) inNingbo, in which enshrines a statue of Ge Hong. In the second year ofXianhe (AD 327), Hong came here to distill elixirs. When he lived in seclusion in the Lingfeng peaks (in theYandang Mountains) nearby, a plague occurred, and he practiced medicine to help locals.
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