Contemporary Daoism in Mainland China Today: Daoist Temples, Daoist Priests and the Daoist Association of China

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the speed of restoring and reconstructing Daoist temples has accelerated. The restoration of Daoist monasteries expanded from those temples located in metropolitan cities to small ones in rural counties. The rapid growth of market economy, the urbanization of villages, and the population change in China since the late 1990s have not only transformed the countrys socio-economic and demographic conditions, these changes also provide an opportunity as well as a serious challenge to traditional Chinese religions like Daoism. This paper aims to offer a preliminary study of Daoism in contemporary China during the period from 2000 to the present day. It focuses on three main aspects: the expansion of Daoist temples, the ordinations and training of Daoist priests, and the Daoist social engagement and charity work.