Wu Quanjie吴全节

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Chengji, sobriquets Xianxian and Kanyun Daoren (Cloud-Watching Daoist), Tejin (Specially Advanced), Senior Minister, Grand Master of Xuanjiao (Mysterious Teaching)

Period

Yuan

Dates

1269 — 1346

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism, Xuanjiao (Mysterious Teaching)

Role

Grand Master of XuanjiaoPoetCalligrapher

Birthplace

Raozhou Anren (present-day Yujiang, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

Mount Longhu (Dragon and Tiger Mountain)

Life

Wu Quanjie, a native of Raozhou, Jiangxi, was the second Grand Master (Dazongshi) of Xuanjiao (the Mysterious Teaching) in the Yuan dynasty. As a youth he entered Mount Longhu to study the Dao, and in the twenty-fourth year of the Zhiyuan era (1287) accompanied Zhang Liusun to the capital, where he won the esteem of the emperors who succeeded Kublai Khan, rising through official ranks to Specially Advanced Grand Minister (tejin shangqing), Grand Master of Xuanjiao, and Overseer of Daoist Affairs in the regions of Jianghuai, Jingxiang, and elsewhere. After Zhang Liusun's death he headed Xuanjiao for over twenty years, and was the central figure of court Daoism in the mid-to-late Yuan. Wu Quanjie was a man of exceptional literary cultivation, closely associating with literati such as Zhao Mengfu, Yu Ji, Jie Xisi, and Yuan Jue; he was skilled in poetry, prose, and calligraphy, possessed an extensive library, and is regarded as a representative of the "literatus-Daoist" of the Yuan. He repeatedly interceded on behalf of localities and recommended worthy men for office, and was highly regarded in literary circles. He died in 1346. His writings include the (now lost) Kanyun ji (Collection of Watching the Clouds); his life is recorded in Yu Ji's "Stele of the Immortal Altar of the River Chart" and other sources.

Contributions & Influence

• Succeeded Zhang Liusun as head of Xuanjiao, maintaining ties between the Yuan court and Daoism in the Jiangnan region
• Bridged the literati world and the Daoist clergy in his capacity as a literatus-Daoist
• Left important source material for the study of Yuan-dynasty Daoist culture

Works

• Anthology of Watching Clouds (lost)