Chinese Alchemy

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This monograph, the first book-length study of Chinese alchemy published outside the Orient, is not a historical survey, for critical research on the subject is just beginning. Instead the author delineates major issues, feasible approaches, and basic techniques of investigation. He presents a definitive edition, translation, and background study of an important seventh-century handbook of alchemistic recipes, the T’ai ch’ing tan ching yao chueh, and includes an examination of Taoist hagiography that is virtually a study in the craft of establishing historical fact. Appendixes provide research tools for future work in the field.