Yue Chongdai岳崇岱

Style & Daoist names

Daoist name Chongdai, styled Dongqiaozi

Period

Republican Era–Present

Dates

1888 — 1958

School

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen

Role

First President of the Chinese Taoist AssociationAbbot of Taiqing Palace, Shenyang

Birthplace

Shouguang, Shandong (according to one account, simply Shandong)

Places of activity

Taiqing Palace, Shenyang

Life

Yue Chongdai, a native of Shandong, was a Daoist of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage and the first president of the Chinese Taoist Association. He entered the priesthood as a youth and lived for a long time in the Northeast, serving in the 1940s as prior and then abbot of the Taiqing Palace in Shenyang. After 1949 he was actively involved in organizational work for the Daoist community; in 1956 he initiated preparations in Beijing to establish the Chinese Taoist Association, which was founded in April 1957, and he was elected its first president; he also served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and advocated that Daoism should adapt to the new society while remaining patriotic and loyal to its faith. In 1958 he was persecuted during the Anti-Rightist Campaign and died the same year (according to one account, by suicide). He was rehabilitated in the 1980s. In the early years of the Association he presided over the drafting of its charter and liaised with temples across the country, making him a key figure in the organization of Daoism in the 1950s; his experience also reflects the circumstances of the religious community at that time.

Contributions & Influence

• Initiated and presided over the founding of the Chinese Taoist Association, serving as its first president
• Presided over the Taiqing Palace in Shenyang, a leading representative of Quanzhen Daoism in the Northeast
• Presided over the drafting of the Association's early charter and its organizational development