Chen Yuan陈垣

Style & Daoist names

courtesy name Yuan'an

Period

Republican Era–Present

Dates

1880 — 1971

Role

HistorianHistorian of religion

Birthplace

Xinhui (present-day Jiangmen, Guangdong)

Life

Chen Yuan, a native of Xinhui in Guangdong, was a renowned modern historian and one of the founders of the study of religious history, who served successively as president of Fu Jen University and Beijing Normal University. He was known for his "Four Studies of Ancient Religions," and his representative work on Daoism is A Study of the New Daoism of Hebei in the Early Southern Song (Nan Song chu Hebei xin daojiao kao, 1941), which systematically examines the rise, transmission and relations with political power of the three schools of Quanzhen, Dadao (Zhen Dadao) and Taiyi during the Jin and Yuan, drawing broadly on stele inscriptions with a rigorous method; it laid the foundation for the study of Quanzhen history, and is also regarded as a work in which a spirit of resistance embodied in the "New Daoism" theme carried an implicit sense of national integrity during the War of Resistance against Japan. He also edited Concise Epigraphy of Daoism (Daojia jinshi lüe, compiled and published by Chen Zhichao in 1988), which gathers Daoist stele inscriptions from successive dynasties and is an important resource base for the study of Daoist history.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote A Study of the New Daoism of Hebei in the Early Southern Song, laying the foundation for the study of the New Daoism of the Jin and Yuan
• Compiled Concise Epigraphy of Daoism, gathering Daoist epigraphic material
• Pioneered empirical research into Daoist history through the method of epigraphic evidence

Works

• Nan Song chu Hebei xin daojiao kao (南宋初河北新道教考, A Study of the New Daoist Sects of Hebei in the Early Southern Song)
• Daojia jinshi lüe (道家金石略, A Survey of Daoist Epigraphy)
• Zhongguo fojiao shiji gailun (中国佛教史籍概论, An Outline of Chinese Buddhist Historical Texts)