Daoist Modern：Innovation, Lay Practice, and the Community of Inner Alchemy in Republican Shanghai

ThisbookexplorestheDaoistencounterwithmodernitythroughtheactivitiesofChenYingning(1880-1969),afamouslayDaoistmaster,andhisgroupinearlytwentieth-centuryShanghai.IncontrasttotheusualnarrativeofDaoistdecay,withitsfocusonmonasticdecline,clericalcorruption,andpopularsuperstitions,thisstudytellsastoryofDaoistresilience,reinvigoration,andrevival.Betweenthe1920sand1940s,ChenleadagroupofurbanlayfollowersinpursuingDaoistself-cultivationtechniquesasawayofensuringhealth,promotingspirituality,forgingculturalself-identity,buildingcommunity,andstrengtheningthenation.IntheireffortstorenewandreformDaoism,Chenandhisfollowersbecamedeeplyengagedwithnationalism,science,thereligiousreformmovements,thenewurbanprintculture,andotherforcesofmodernity.SinceChenandhisfellowpractitionersconceivedoftheDaoistself-cultivationtraditionasapublicresource,theyalsotransformeditfroman'esoteric'pursuitintoapublicpractice,offeringamodernizingsocietyameansofmanagingthebodyandthemindandofforginganewcultural,spiritual,andreligiousidentity.