Laoshan lun dao 崂山论道 ed. by Li Zongxian 李宗贤 (review)

Abstract

152 Journal of Chinese Religions Zhongguo zongjiao baogao 中国宗教报告 (2008) Edited by JIN ZE 金泽 and QIU YONGHUI 邱永辉. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe 社会科学文献出版社, 2008. 285 pages (incl. CD-Rom). ISBN 978-7-50970252 -9/B-0015. RMB 49.00 paper. Zhongguo zongjiao baogao 中国宗教报告 (2009) Edited by JIN ZE 金泽 and QIU YONGHUI 邱永辉. Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe 社会科学文献出版社, 2009. 311 pages (incl. CD-Rom). ISBN 978-7-50970849 -1. RMB 59.00 paper. These are the first two volumes in a series of “Blue Books of Religions” (zongjiao lanpishu 宗教蓝皮书), published by the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 中国社会科学院世界宗教研究所. They contain mostly state of the field surveys, with a sprinkling of more focused specialized research reports, and are indispensible sources of insights into current developments in Chinese scholarship and policy. The 2008 volume contains articles on Religious Studies as an academic discipline in China, on recent developments in Daoism and Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, on Chinese Islam, Sino-Christian theology, on new theoretical approaches in the study of Chinese popular religion, and on various policy issues (Sino-Vatican relations, religion & international security, religions and PRC foreign affairs, legalization of religions in China, “cultic studies”). The 2009 volume offers a similar range of articles on the current state of Buddhism, Daoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Confucianism, and popular religion. In addition we find theoretical discussions of the study of religions in China, an article on religions and the financial crisis, as well as field reports on Christianity and popular religion in various provinces, and a statistical study of religious faith among college students. PHILIP CLART, Universität Leipzig Laoshan lun dao 崂山论道 Edited by LI ZONGXIAN 李宗贤. Beijing: Zongjiao wenghua chubanshe 宗教文化出版 社, 2007. ISBN 978-7-80123-937-2. RMB 55.00 paper. Conferences on the future of Daoism are all the rage in China, but one of the more established and successful venues has been Laoshan 崂山 in Shandong province, where the speeches that Book Notes 153 ended up in this edited volume were given. The volume is a bit of a grab bag of topics, including Daoism and contemporary society, historical figures in Daoism, culture, wellness, and discussions of classic texts. And of course there are the de rigueur pieces on Daoism and harmony—“harmonious society” is the latest slogan of the day by the Communist Party and many Daoist functionaries see in it an opportunity to win official favor. One of the more interesting contributions is by Li Dahua 李大华 of the Guangdong municipal Academy of Social Sciences, who discusses a study he made of temples in Guangdong. Li discusses methods these temples use to reach out to society, echoing the early 20th century Buddhist movement of 人间佛教. Like many Daoist thinkers, Li thinks Daoism’s top priority must be reconstructing damaged or destroyed temples. But he says they should be used more regularly to draw in people from society, for example by using them for anti-war demonstrations. Another area discussed extensively by other contributors is wellness, part of what appears to be a growing movement in Chinese Daoist circles to reclaim for Daoism yangsheng 养生 techniques that are now mostly taught by lay practitioners. IAN JOHNSON, Beijing Zhongguo Fo-Daojiao siguan jingji xingtai yanjiu 中国佛道教寺观 经济形态研究 LUO LI 罗莉. Beijing: Zhongyang minzu daxue chubanshe 中央民族大学出版社, 2007. ISBN 978-7-81108-457-3. RMB 22.00 paper. This book by Luo Li, a Tibetan scholar at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing, focuses on the economic situation of Buddhist and Daoist temples. The book has a fair amount of padding, including a long introductory section on the teachings of Buddhism and Daoism and the formation of the two religions’ places of worship. The central section of the book is also likely to be of marginal interest to most scholars, as it explains in very generic terms how both religions’ temples are organized and the principles behind them. Most scholars will find the author’s generalizations too sweeping—for example seldom taking into account the situations in different eras—to be valid. The most interesting section is in the last 100 pages, when the current situation is discussed. The author clearly lays out the government’s policy of “self-reliance,” and although she does not explicitly make this comparison...