Baji You is the title of two unrelated melodies. Both are on at least one occasion called The Spirit Roams to the Eight Boundaries.⁴ The one included in Shen Qi Mi Pu, using biyu mode, survives in at least eight handbooks to 1670, then seems to disappear.⁵ The other one, which uses mangong tuning (like #11 Huo Lin), is to be found in a further 20 handbooks between ca. 1609 and 1900. It is more commonly called Clasp Immortality Roaming (Xiexian You).⁶

Some of the later handbooks attribute the Biyu mode Baji You to the Yellow Emperor. Some of those with the mangong mode Xie Xian You, in contrast, attribute it to the Tang dynasty recluse Lü Yan, who became counted as one of the eight immortals.⁷

Technically the eight boundaries are those to north, east, south and west plus the four intermediary directions, but it is also a term found in ancient Taoist writings to refer to everywhere. As for the Yellow Emperor, sources such as Liezi tell of his spirit roaming in the dream in which he travels to the land of the Huaxu Clan (see #3 Huaxu Yin), but there is no mention of ba ji (or liu he). And the Yingzhou⁸ of the section titles was thought to be an island in the Eastern Sea where immortals lived; the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (Qin Shi Huangdi) sent a mission there to search for the elixir of immortality.

There are no other recordings of this piece.

 
Original Preface⁹

The Emaciated Immortal says

this tune is probably a very lofty old one. The theme of the tune is in hoping to travel beyond the furthest distances, and rambling along the edge of the universe ("eight vastnesses"). It is like riding in a whirlwind cart pulled by heavenly wind-blown cloud horses, roaming freely on heaven and earth, and sightseeing around the universe; there are no limitations or obstacles. If one is not a person who, having thoughts of wandering, has left ordinary society, how could one express such sentiments?

 
Music
Six sections (titles from Chongxiu Zhenchuan Qinpu ¹⁰)

(00.00) 1. Obscured by the cloudy skies
(00.26) 2. Rise up and fly far away
(01.04) 3. Travel around the world
(01.58) 4. Over four seas and even Yingzhou
(02.33) 5. (Look down on) Lakes Dongting and Poyang
(02.59) 6. Whirling and driving the chariot
(03.42) -- harmonics
(04.04) -- Piece ends

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Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1. Baji You, references
八極遊 1475.377 has only 八極, with quotes from several sources including 莊子 Zhuangzi, 荀子 Xunzi and 淮南子 Huainanzi. In the Zhuangzi story (near the end of #21 田子方 Tianzi Fang) 伯昏無人 Bohun Wuren tells Liezi the higher man is unchanged no matter where he goes, even to all eight extremities (of the universe). Liezi (#2 黃帝 Yellow Emperor) has basically the same story but there the man is called 伯昏瞀人 Bohun Maoren.

A net search for 八極遊 mainly turns up references to a martial arts novel 八極遊龍 Baji You Long by 雲中嶽 (云中岳) Yun Zhongyue. The title could mean "Dragon - i.e., martial arts hero - who is roaming everywhere", but perhaps it refers to the martials arts form called Eight Extremes Fist (八極拳 Baji quan).
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2. For more on biyu mode see Shenpin Biyu Yi. See also Modality in Early Ming Qin Tablature.
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3. No available image (Return)

4. 神遊八機 Shen You Baji
25211.315 神遊 shen you discusses Yellow Emperor's spirit going to Huaxu country (see Liezi). Zha's Guide (28/225/---) lists Shen You Baji as a separate melody, giving pu dated 1602 and 1876. The former is clearly related to Baji You; the latter is in 側羽調 Zeyu mode with 12 sections, so perhaps it is related to Xie Xian You.
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5. Zha's Guide, Baji You, 8/83/133, includes some versions of Xie Xian You.
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6. 挾仙遊 Xie Xian You (Clasp Immortality Roaming)
12405.xxx. This melody, although its earliest surviving version is called Baji You and this name is used with some of the later editions, is unrelated to the Baji You above; to start out with, its tuning (慢宮 mangong, also called 太簇 taicu) requires lowering the first, third and sixth strings. Zha's Guide 33/255/--- lists Xie Xian You as a separate title, with eight entries, but not including 1931!), giving as alternate titles 神遊八極 Shen You Baji and 神遊八卦 Shen You Bagua as well as 八極遊 Baji You, the latter causing confusion in Zha's Guide with the earlier Baji You using lowered 3rd tuning. 1864 gives 神遊 Shen You as an alternate title.

The earliest version of this melody in the new tuning is the Baji You in Boya Xinfa (see VII/208); its preface (not in Zha) starts off by saying that Lü Chunyang (see next footnote), having attained the Dao and flown up to the heavens, wrote it. The earliest version to use the new title is the one in Guyin Zhengzong (IX/365).
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7. Lü Yan
For Lü Yan 呂嵒號純陽 (see Giles, etc.), style name Chunyang, born ca. 750, became a recluse on 華山 Hua Shan; from here he became an immortal at age 50. One of the 八仙 Eight Immortals.
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8. Yingzhou 瀛州 19047.6
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9. The original Chinese text is on a separate page.
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10. Section timings are from my CD. The original Chinese titles are:

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