From Alchemy to Science: Daoist Healthcare in Contemporary China
Abstract In premodern China, Daoist priests cultivated and traded herbal drugs. Many priests served as doctors for royal and aristocratic families. Given this long history, it is not surprising that Daoist institutions in present-day China have tapped into a demand for traditional healing. Many temp...
| Publié dans: | Review of Religion and Chinese Society |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | En cours de chargement...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Publié: |
Brill
2020
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| Dans: |
Review of Religion and Chinese Society
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| Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés: | B
China
/ Soins de santé
/ Taoïsme
/ Guérisseur
/ Médecine chinoise
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Vie religieuse BM Religions chinoises KBM Asie |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Shaanxi province
B Chinese medicine B Mount Yaowang B Daoist temples B Sun Simiao |
| Accès en ligne: |
Accès probablement gratuit Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (Verlag) |
| Résumé: | Abstract In premodern China, Daoist priests cultivated and traded herbal drugs. Many priests served as doctors for royal and aristocratic families. Given this long history, it is not surprising that Daoist institutions in present-day China have tapped into a demand for traditional healing. Many temples offer clinics for walk-in patients, and some have established research centers devoted to studying traditional medicine. This paper begins with a vignette from a contemporary temple on Mount Yaowang 藥王山 (Mount Pharma-king), where leaders are currently redeveloping an ancient temple into a research center. On the surface, Mount Yaowang merely carries on the traditions of the past. Throughout the multi-acre compound, visitors are greeted with numerous placards, brochures, and exhibitions emphasizing how the knowledge of Mount Yaowang’s past Daoist doctors still lives on today. Beneath this veneer of antiquity, however, a new and different form of Daoist healthcare is emerging. To recognize the new forms of Daoist healing, this paper builds toward a long-range understanding of Daoist healthcare in traditional and twentieth-century China. The author concludes that despite the apparent conservatism of Daoist leaders’ incorporation of the past, it is actually a radical departure. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-3955 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Review of Religion and Chinese Society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22143955-00702004 |