Ren Jiyu任继愈

Period

Modern

Dates

1916 — 2009

Role

Historian of PhilosophyScholar of Religious StudiesDirector of the National Library

Birthplace

Pingyuan (present-day Pingyuan, Shandong)

Life

Ren Jiyu, a native of Pingyuan in Shandong, was a historian of philosophy and scholar of religion, the founding director of the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (1964), and later director of the National Library of China. He advocated the study of religion through Marxism and argued for the thesis that "Confucianism is a religion," while at the same time vigorously promoting the study of Daoism: he served as chief editor of History of Chinese Daoism (ed. Ren Jiyu, 1990, Shanghai People's Publishing House), one of the earliest systematic general histories of Daoism; he served as chief editor of Descriptive Notes on the Daoist Canon (Daozang tiyao, 1991), which provides a description of every scripture in the Zhengtong Daozang and the Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era, and is the most important reference tool in Daozang studies; he also directed large-scale textual projects such as the Zhonghua Dazangjing (Chinese Buddhist Canon) and the Zhonghua Daozang (Chinese Daoist Canon, with Zhang Jiyu). He trained a great many scholars of religious studies, and his influence on the institutional establishment of Daoist studies in contemporary China has been far-reaching.

Contributions & Influence

• Served as chief editor of History of Chinese Daoism and Descriptive Notes on the Daoist Canon
• Founded the Institute of World Religions, establishing the discipline of religious studies in China
• Directed large-scale textual projects such as the Zhonghua Daozang

Works

• History of Chinese Daoism (editor-in-chief)
• Descriptive Notes on the Daoist Canon (editor-in-chief)
• History of the Development of Chinese Philosophy
• Zhonghua Daozang (Chinese Daoist Canon) (editor-in-chief)