Li Yuhang黎遇航

Style & Daoist names

Daoist name Yuhang

Period

Modern

Dates

1916 — 2002

School

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism

Role

President of the China Taoist AssociationDaoist priest of Mount Mao

Birthplace

Jurong (present-day Jurong, Jiangsu)

Places of activity

Mount Mao (Maoshan), White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), Beijing

Life

Li Yuhang, a native of Jurong, Jiangsu, was a Quanzhen Daoist who came from Mount Mao. As a youth he entered the priesthood at the Yuanfu Wanning Palace on Mount Mao; during the War of Resistance against Japan, the Daoist temples of Mount Mao provided assistance to the New Fourth Army, in which he took part. After 1949 he engaged in organizational work for Daoism; in 1957 he took part in founding the Chinese Taoist Association, serving successively as deputy secretary-general and vice-president, and after the Association resumed activity in 1980 he was elected president (for the third and fourth terms), serving until 1992 — making him the leader during the period of Daoism's revival after reform and opening-up, during which he presided over the restoration of the White Cloud Temple, the founding of the Daoist college, and the resumption of ordinations (the White Cloud Temple's first public ordination in 1989, among other important matters). He served as a member and then standing committee member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He died in Beijing in 2002.

Contributions & Influence

• Presided over the Chinese Taoist Association after reform and opening-up, promoting the revival of Daoism
• Promoted the resumption of ordination at the White Cloud Temple in 1989 and the founding of the China Taoist College
• Presided over the restoration of the White Cloud Temple and the preservation of Daoist cultural relics