Li Yangzheng李养正

Period

Modern

Dates

1925 — 2018

Role

Daoist ScholarsResearch Fellow, Chinese Taoist Association

Birthplace

Nanchang (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi)

Places of activity

White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), Beijing

Life

Li Yangzheng, a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi, was a research fellow in the research office of the Chinese Taoist Association and worked for many years on Daoist research and education at the White Cloud Temple, Beijing; he is an important scholar within the Daoist clergy's own scholarly tradition. From the 1950s he worked under Chen Yingning, took part in the Chinese Taoist Association's early research and in editing the Journal of the Chinese Taoist Association, and in the 1980s became a professor at the China Taoist College. He wrote An Outline of Daoism (1989), Daoism and Chinese Society, Contemporary Chinese Daoism, A Brief History of Daoism, Essentials of the History of Buddhist–Daoist Relations, and the Newly Compiled Gazetteer of the White Cloud Temple, Beijing, and edited Daoism Handbook and An Outline History of Chinese Daoism. An Outline of Daoism in particular has long served as a standard introductory textbook on Daoism, and he made a great contribution to the training of Daoist clergy.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote An Outline of Daoism, a classic introductory textbook on Daoism
• Took part in the Chinese Taoist Association's early research and in teaching at the China Taoist College
• Wrote the Newly Compiled Gazetteer of the White Cloud Temple, Beijing, compiling its historical records

Works

• An Outline of Daoism
• Daoism and Chinese Society
• Contemporary Chinese Daoism
• Newly Compiled Gazetteer of the White Cloud Temple, Beijing
• Essentials of the History of Buddhist-Daoist Interaction