Langgan () is the ancient Chinese name of a gemstone which remains an enigma in the history of mineralogy; it has been identified, variously, as blue-green malachite, blue coral, white coral, whitish chalcedony, red spinel, and red jade. It is also the name of a mythological tree of immortality found in the western paradise of Kunlun Mountain, and the name of the classic waidan alchemical elixir of immortality .
Word The Chinese characters and used to write the gemstone name are classified as radical-phonetic characters that combine the semantically significant "jade radical" or (commonly used to write names of jades or gemstones) and phonetic elements hinting at pronunciation. combines the "jade radical" with (interpreted to denote "fine jade") and combines it with the phonetic . The Chinese word is usually translated as "jade" but in some contexts translates as "fine ornamental stone; gemstone; precious stone", and can refer to a variety of rocks that carve and polish well, including jadeite, nephrite, agalmatolite, bowenite, and serpentine.
Modern written Chinese and have variant Chinese characters. is occasionally transcribed as (with ) or (); and is rarely written as (with a phonetic). Guwen "ancient script" variants were or and .
Berthold Laufer proposed that was an onomatopoetic word "descriptive of the sound yielded by the sonorous stone when struck". occurs in several imitative words meaning "tinkling of jade pendants/ornaments": , , , and . Laufer further suggests this etymology would explain the transference of the name from a stone to a coral; Du Wan's (below) expressly states that the coral "when struck develops resonant properties".
Classical descriptions The name has undergone remarkable semantic change. The first references to are found in Chinese classics from the Warring States period (475-221 BCE) and Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE), which describe it as a valuable gemstone and mineral drug, as well as the mythological fruit of the tree of immortality on Kunlun Mountain. Texts from the turbulent Six Dynasties period (220-589) and Sui dynasty (581-618) used gemstone as a literary metaphor, and an ingredient in alchemical elixirs of immortality, many of which were poisonous. During the Tang dynasty (618-907), was reinterpreted as a type of coral.
Several early texts (including the Shujing, Guanzi, and Erya below) recorded in context with the obscure gemstone(s) . In Classical Chinese syntax, can be parsed as two and types of jade or as one type. A recent dictionary of Classical Chinese says is cognate with , and .
In what may be the earliest record, the c. 5th-3rd centuries BCE Yu Gong "Tribute of Yu the Great" chapter of the Shujing "Classic of Documents" says the tributary products from Yong Province (located in the Wei River plain, one of the ancient Nine Provinces) included and jade-like gemstones: "Its articles of tribute were the k'ew and lin gem-stones, and the lang-kan precious stones". Legge quotes Kong Anguo's commentary that is "a stone, but like a pearl", and suggests it was possibly lazulite or lapis lazuli, which Laufer calls "purely conjectural".
The c. 4th-3rd centuries BCE Guanzi encyclopedic text, named for and attributed to the 7th century BCE philosopher Guan Zhong, who served as Prime Minister to Duke Huan of Qi (r. 685-643 BCE), uses , , and as examples of how establishing diverse local commodities as fiat currencies will encourage foreign economic cooperation. When Duke Huan asks Guanzi about how to politically control the "Four Yi" (meaning "all foreigners" on China's borders), he replies: Since the Yuzhi [i.e., Yuezhi/Kushans in Central Asia] have not paid court, I request our use of white jade discs [] as money. Since those in the Kunlun desert (modern-day Xinjiang and Tibet) have not paid court, I request our use of lapis lazuli and gems as money. … Since a white jade held tight unseen against one's chest or under one's armpit will be used as a thousand pieces of gold, we can obtain the Yuezhi eight thousand away and make them pay court. Since a lapis lazuli and gem (fashioned in) a hair clasp and earring will be used as a thousand gold pieces, we can obtain [i.e., defeat] [the inhabitants] of the Kunlun deserts eight thousand away and make them pay court. Therefore if resources are not commandeered, economies will not connect, those distant from each other will have nothing to use for their common interest and the four yi will not be obtained and come to court.Tr. Lavan et al. 2016: 149. One li was approximately one-third mile).
Xun Kuang's 3rd century BCE Confucian classic Xunzi has a context criticizing elaborate burials that uses (with and , with the "stone radical" and same phonetic) and . In these ancient times, the body was covered with pearls and jades, the inner coffin was filled with beautifully ornamented embroideries, and he outer coffin was filled with yellow gold and decorated with cinnabar [] with added layers of laminar verdite. [In the outer tomb chamber were] rhinoceros and elephant ivory fashioned into trees, with precious rubies [], magnetite lodestones, and flowering aconite for their fruit." (18.7) John Knoblock translates as "rubies", noting perhaps the genuine ruby or balas spinel, were connected with the cult of immortality, and cites the Shanhaijing saying they grow on Mount Kunlun's Fuchang trees, and the Zhen'gao saying that adepts swallow "ruby blossoms" to feign death and become transcendents.
Early Chinese dictionaries define . The c. 4th-3rd century BCE Erya geography section (9 ) lists valuable products from the various regions of ancient China: "The beautiful things of the northwest are the [] and gemstones from the wastelands [] of Kunlun Mountain". The 121 CE Shuowen jiezi (Jade Radical section ) has two consecutive definitions for and . is [used in] , which "resembles a pearl []", Gan is [used in] , paraphrasing the Yu Gong, "Yong Province [using the ancient character for ] [produces] qiulin and [gems] []".
Three sections about western Chinese mountains in the c. 4th-2nd centuries BCE Shanhaijing "Classic of Mountains and Seas" record early geographic legends associating with Xi Wang Mu "Queen Mother of the West" who lives on Jade Mountain in the mythological axis mundi Kunlun Mountain paradise. Two mention gems and one mentions langganshu trees. The Shanhaijing translator Anne Birrell exemplifies the difficulties of translating the word in three ways: "pearl-like gems", "red jade", and "precious gem [tree]".
First, the "Classic of the Mountains: West" section says Huaijiang (lit. "pagoda-tree river") Mountain, located 400 northeast of Kunlun Mountain, has abundant and other valuable minerals. "On the summit of Mount Carobriver are quantities of green male-yellow [], precious pearl-like gems [], and yellow gold and jade. Granular cinnabar is abundant on its south face and there are quantities of speckled yellow gold and silver on its north face." (2) "Male-yellow" overliterally translates —Compare Richard Strassberg's translation, "On the mountain’s heights is much green realgar, the finest quality of Langgan-Stone, yellow gold, and jade. On its southern slope are many grains of cinnabar, while on its northern slope are much glittering yellow gold and silver.". Guo Pu's 4th century CE Shanhaijing commentary says (cf. in the third section) resembles a pearl, and means . However, Hao Yixing's 1822 commentary says was originally written , that is, Huaijiang Mountain has the "best" quality .
Second, the "Classic of the Great Wilderness: West" section records that on [Xi] Wang Mu "Queen Mother [of the West]" Mountain: "Here are the sweet-bloom tree, sweet quince, white weeping willow, the look-flesh creature, the triply-grey horse, precious jade [], dark green jade gemstone [], the white tree, red jade [], white cinnabar, green cinnabar, and quantities of silver and iron." (16)
Third, the "Classic of Regions Within the Seas: West" section refers to a mythical tricephalic creature dwelling in a who guards a tree south of Kunlun: "The wears-ever fruit tree—on its crown there is a three-headed person who is in charge of the precious gem tree []." (11) Interpreters disagree whether the tree grows alongside the tree or grows on it. Guo Pu's commentary admits unfamiliarity with the tree; Wu Renchen's 17th-century commentary notes the similarity with the that the Huainanzi lists with , but doubts they are the same. Guo's commentary says zi "seeds" or "fruits" resemble pearls (cf. the Shuowen definition) and quotes the Erya that it is found on Kunlun Mountain.
The c. 120 BCE Huainanzi "Terrestrial Forms" chapter (4 ) describes trees and jade both found on Mt. Kunlun. The first context describes how Yu the Great controlled the Great Flood and "excavated the wastelands of Kunlun [] to make level ground". "Atop the heights of Kunlun are treelike cereal plants [] thirty-five feet tall. Growing to the west of these are pearl trees [], jade trees [], carnelian trees [], and no-death trees []. To the east are found sand-plum trees [] and malachite trees []. To the south are crimson trees []. To the north are bi jade trees [] and jade trees []." (4.3), translating with Schafer's "malachite" instead of "coral"). The second context paraphrases the Erya definition (above) of : "The beautiful things of the northwest are the , , and jades [] of the Kunlun Mountains []" (4.7), noting that , , and are "types of jade, mostly not identifiable with certainty".
Medicine
Several early classics of traditional Chinese medicine mention .
The c. 1st century BCE Huangdi Neijings Suwen "Basic Questions" section uses beads to describe a healthy pulse. "When man is serene and healthy the pulse of the heart flows and connects, just as pearls are joined together or like a string of red jade []—then one can speak of a healthy heart".
The c. 2nd century CE Nan Jing explains this bead simile: "[If the in] the vessels comes tied together like rings, or as if they were following [in their movement a chain of] lang gan stones [], that implies a normal state." Commentaries elaborate that stones "resemble pearls" and their movement is like a "string of jade- or pearl-like beads".
The c. 3rd century CE Shennong Bencaojing lists or as a mineral drug used to treat ailments such as itchy skin, carbuncle, and ALS. This is one of the rare early references to that treats it as a real substance, while many others make it a feature of the divine world.
Alchemy The name of the "external alchemy" elixir of immortality is the best-known usage of the word . Some other translations are "Elixir of Langgan Efflorescence", "Lang-Kan (Gem) Radiant Elixir", and "Elixir Flower of Langgan".
The earliest method of compounding the elixir is found in the .Translated by . This text was originally part of the Daoist Shangqing School scriptural corpus supposedly revealed to Yang Xi (330-c. 386 CE) between 364 and 370.
The Purple Texts alchemical recipe for preparing Elixir of Efflorescence involves nine steps in four stages carried out over thirteen years. The first stage produces the Efflorescence proper, which when ingested is said to make "one's complexion similar to gold and jade and enables one to summon divine beings". The next three stages further refine and transform the Elixir, repeatedly plant it in the earth, and eventually generate a tree whose fruits confer immortality when eaten, just like those of the legendary tree on Mount Kunlun. Upon completing any of the nine successive steps in producing the elixir, the alchemist (or adept in the interpretation) can choose to either ingest the products and obtain immortality by ascending into the realm of Shangqing heavens or may continue on to the next step with the promise of ever-increasing rewards.