Ge Hong was a noted Chinese physician lived between 284 and 364 AD. He had a sobriquet of “Baopuzi” (The Master Who Embraces Simplicity), so his best known work was also called Baopuzi.

Ge Hong was said to be a Taoist immortal, who lived to a great age. In fact, Ge Hong was a historical figure in real life. He was not just a Taoist theorist, but more of a renowned alchemist. According to his work Baopuzi, he did lots of chemical experiments in his lifetime£¬including the experiment to obtain arsenic using the three substances of realgar, rosin and niter. The book also recorded his making of mercury ointment for scab and other diseases by using lard as the bodying agent, while similar therapies were nonexistent in European medicine until the 10th century. Ge Hong’s alchemy received a lot of attention from academia of home and abroad, with some of his works being translated into English and French and gaining popularity across the world.