Ge Hong: A Top Scholar in Alchemy Who Swapped Firewood for Pen and Paper, and Developed the Prototype of Immunology as a Side Hustle

When it comes to all-rounders of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, if Ge Zhichuan claimed to be second, no one would dare to claim first. Alchemy, medicine, writing, and even leading troops into battle—this man was like a life simulator on fast-forward, mastering every skill to the max.

Ge Hong was born into a prominent southern family, whose ancestors held high-ranking official positions equivalent to provincial and ministerial level in the Sun Wu regime. By all rights, he should have been a privileged young master living in luxury. Unfortunately, his father passed away when he was thirteen, and the family fortunes declined. How poor were they? In *Baopuzi · Autobiography*, he complained about himself: "Suffering from hunger, cold, and exhaustion, I personally plowed and sowed." During the day, he carried a hoe to farm; at night, he wanted to study but couldn't even afford paper and brush. What did he do? He went up the mountain to chop firewood and sold it to buy ink. He couldn't bear to throw away a piece of paper even after writing on both sides, being more frugal with paper than a modern print shop owner.

Chopping firewood while studying, by the age of sixteen, Ge Hong had thoroughly devoured all the classics of Confucianism, history, philosophy, and belles-lettres. People in his hometown praised him as a "baopu shi" (a man who embraces simplicity)—a term from *Laozi*: "Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, and lessen desires," meaning the boy was honest, sincere, and didn't put on airs. Ge Hong liked the term so much that he simply took "Baopuzi" as his literary name, and even named his later book *Baopuzi*.

Don't think he was just a bookworm—his master was a genuine Taoist. His great-uncle Ge Xuan was a famous Taoist practitioner during the Three Kingdoms period, known as "Immortal Ge Gong." He studied the secret art of alchemy under Zuo Ci and later passed it on to his disciple Zheng Yin. When Ge Hong was sixteen, he became Zheng Yin's disciple. Among Zheng's more than fifty students, he alone received the true scripture of the golden elixir, which shows how high his comprehension was.

Later, Ge Hong studied under Bao Jing, the Administrator of Nanhai. Seeing that this young man had extraordinary talent, Bao Jing not only taught him everything he knew but also married his daughter Bao Gu to him. The couple later collected herbs and refined elixirs on Luofu Mountain, treating the common people, and became a model couple in the history of medicine.

What's even more interesting is that Ge Hong also fought in battles. During the Tai'an period of the Western Jin Dynasty, Zhang Chang and Shi Bing caused unrest in Yangzhou. Ge Hong was appointed as a military commandant, led troops to suppress the rebellion, and made meritorious contributions, being promoted to General of Fubo. As soon as the war ended, he immediately threw away his armor and turned back to studying his elixirs. In modern terms, it was just "experiencing life, don't take it seriously."

Later, Emperor Cheng of Jin wanted to give him the position of Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary and put him in charge of compiling national history. Anyone else would have kowtowed in gratitude, but Ge Hong simply declined, saying he was old and just wanted to refine elixirs. Hearing that cinnabar was produced in Jiaozhi, he even volunteered to be the magistrate of Goulou County—just for the convenience of digging raw materials. But when he reached Guangzhou, he was so enchanted by the scenery of Luofu Mountain that he simply stopped and stayed. He built a hut on the mountain to practice Taoism, collect herbs, refine elixirs, and wrote a great many books.

The inner chapters of his *Baopuzi* talk about cultivating immortality and refining elixirs, while the outer chapters discuss governing the country and pacifying the people, which can be said to combine Taoism and Confucianism. What's even more remarkable is *Emergency Prescriptions Kept Up One's Sleeve*, which records a method of treating rabies with the brain of a mad dog. It can be called the rudiment of immunology, more than a thousand years earlier than the West.

Geling in Hangzhou and the Chongxu Ancient Temple on Luofu Mountain were all built by later generations to commemorate him. This top student who held the creed of "manifest plainness, embrace simplicity" throughout his life proved with practical actions: truly awesome people always live their lives the way they want. No matter what fame, wealth, and official position are, nothing is more real than a furnace of cinnabar.