Chōnen arrived at the court in Kaifeng in 984. Chōnen was there warmly received by Emperor Taizong of Song; Chōnen gave the emperor several books, including his genealogy of the Japanese imperial family and a copy of the Taihō Codes. Taizong asked Chōnen many questions about Japan, eager to learn, and expressed admiration for the stability of the Japanese imperial dynasty. Taizong then granted him purple robes and a printed copy of the entirety of the Buddhist tripitaka, commissioned by Taizong himself and only completed the year before. While in Kaifeng, Chōnen also saw the image of Śākyamuni, and ordered a copy made by the sculptors Zhang Yanjiao and Zhang Yanxi. He then travelled to Mount Wutai, before returning to Japan on the ship of Zheng Rende in 986. His return was a momentous event: the image of the Buddha was paraded through Kyoto and crowds gathered to see the five thousand volumes of the tripitaka offloaded in five hundred chests. It is believed that he wrote a journal of his experience in China, though it is not extant.