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.
Chinese alchemy
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Chinese alchemy is a historical Chinese approach to alchemy. According to original texts such as the Cantong qi, the body is understood as the focus of cosmological processes summarized in the five ag
Crystals of cinnabar, crystals of barite, crystals of quartz, crystals of calcite : Wanshan Mine, Wanshan District, Tongren Prefecture, Guizhou Province, China, an example of material historically associated with Chinese alchemy
Chinese woodblock illustration of neidan "Cleansing the heart-mind and retiring into concealment", 1615 Xingming guizhi (Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life)