Publication

Historically linked to monastic Daoism, this area has known a touristic boom since the Chinese Reform period in the 1980s. Daoist temples were at first the target of a historical and cultural interest which seems to have recently shifted towards an enthusiasm for "nourishing life". Whereas many clerics living in those temples consider "nourishing life" as a way of reaching the ultimate goal of immortality, most laypeople see it as techniques to maintain and restore health. "Nourishing life" has even been recognized as a profitable "industry" (chanye 产业) by companies and the local government. This phenomenon is not merely religion being commodified ; it involves substantial interactions between Daoist lineage system of apprenticeship and market economy which I will explore through ethnography. Using the same vocabulary, the same spaces (temples), and sometimes the same materials, there is an undeniable fluidity between what companies offer and what is conveyed in a monastic context.