Waidan
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Waidan, translated as 'external alchemy' or 'external elixir', is the early branch of Chinese alchemy that focuses upon compounding elixirs of immortality by heating minerals, metals, and other natura
Chinese woodblock illustration of a waidan alchemical refining furnace, 1856 Waike tushuo 外科圖説 (Illustrated Manual of External Medicine)
A bronze ritual ding from the late Shang dynasty.
In Chinese alchemy, elixir poisoning refers to the toxic effects from elixirs of immortality that contained metals and minerals such as mercury and arsenic. The official Twenty-Four Histories record n
Waidan
…originated in the early Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), grew in popularity until the Tang (618–907), when neidan began and several emperors died from alchemical elixir poisoning, and gradually declined until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). The Chinese compound wàidān combines the common word wài 外 'outside; exterior; external…
Chinese woodblock illustration of a neidan practice "Putting the miraculous elixir into the ding tripod", 1615 Xingming guizhi (Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life)
Jade burial suit of Nanyue King Zhao Mo (d. 122 BCE)
The preserved body of Xin Zhui (d. 163 BCE)