TANG Chongliang Zhenren (真人 唐崇亮)

In 1869, the 8th year of the Tongzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty, Tang Chongliang was born in the village of Santang in the Yingshang County of the Anhui Province.

His birth name was Tang Chiyuan. When he was 3 years old, a monk from Youfang visited his family. Upon seeing the child, the monk felt that he would develop exceptional character traits and have a glorious life story, which he told the child’s father. That was when they changed his name to Tang Chongliang (崇- high / dignified / lofty / to honor; 亮 – light / bright / illumination).

Tang Chongliang was born into a poor family as the eldest of 8 brothers and sisters. In 1885, the 11th year of the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, at the age of 17, he decided to unburden his family by joining the imperial army.

In 1894, the 21st year of the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, the Japanese army attacked Beiyang Fleet’s warships in the East China Sea, which marked the start of the first Sino-Japanese War; Tang Chongliang was assigned to general Zuo Baogui’s unit.

At the battles of Pyongyang, Jiuliancheng, and Lüshunkou, Tang Chongliang and his fellow comrades fought fearlessly yet, unfortunately, unsuccessfully. He returned to his birthplace, where everything had changed after his departure: his parents had died, his sister was married for the second time, and the family home was decaying.

Thus, in 1898, he left for Wudangshan, where he settled at the Baxianguan Taoist Temple (the temple of the eight immortals). This is where he started following the Daoist tradition and commenced his Daoist way taught by master Wang Xintang. He became Wang Xintang’s inner disciple – this is how he became the 26th generation descendent of the Longmen pai tradition bearers.

In 1908, the 33rd year of the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, he left Wudangshan. He traveled to the base of the Baiyun Mountain in the Biyang County of the Henan Province, where he settled: then, he dedicated himself to meditation and Daoist medicine.

Striving to help people with their health issues, Tang Chongliang created the Bǎicǎo gāo (百草膏) healing ointment and the Hǔ gǔ zhuī fēng jiǔ (虎骨追风酒) health-improving wine. As his treatments were free of charge, he became very popular among the villagers. They started using the nickname for a “true man” – Tang Zhenren.

In his later years, Tang Chongliang passed his secrets of longevity onto the younger generations. In 1981, he started transmitting his lifelong teachings to his apprentice Zhou Jinfuju.

Tang Chongliang passed away on 22 January 1983, at the age of 115.

(注：本文在翻譯審校上，經北京大學哲學博士陳茂澤大師的指導和審校，在此深表感謝。也謝謝趙亮和王彤江對本文的關注和點贊）。

(Note: Thanks to Dr. CHEN Maze, Department of Philosophy, Peking University for his guidance and proofreading. Meanwhile, thanks to ZHAO Liang and WANG Tongjiang for their attention and likes.)

Yuan Weiqi