What was the state of Chinese religion, especially Daoism, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? How did Daoism, its institutions, and its practitioners as a social group fare during the great political, social, and economic transformation of that era? And what will become of its future based on its experience of the past? These are not just a few of the many questions often bewildering historians of modern China and scholars of Chinese religion. They are also embarrassing reminders of the persistent gaps in our understanding of Chinese religion and society during the modern period. Except for the few studies on the temple networks in Beijing during the Ming-Qing era (see Susan Naquin, Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400–1900 [Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000]) and on the Daoist liturgical specialists in Republican Guangzhou (see Lai Chi-tim, “Minguo shiqi Guangzhou shi ‘Nahm-mouh daoguan’ de lishi kaojiu,”...
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