EVENTS

China’s rich, diverse and plural religious universe, severely jolted during the Republican and Communist era, returned to rejuvenation and effervescence with the coming of the reform era, and the introduction of a liberal religious policy by the party-state. Today, religious vibrancy is visible across China’s public and private spheres, —from ancestor worship and funeral rites, to temple festivals and pilgrimages. Daoism, one of the ancient religions of China, has been at the forefront of this religious rejuvenation by disseminating philosophy, performing rituals, building temples, creating monastic communities and collaborating with the state and civil society. Most importantly, women Daoist monks play a leading role in this mission. Based on ethnography, fieldwork and interviews in Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan Province, (known as “the most secluded mountain under heaven”) this presentation reflects on the life worlds of the Daoist female monks, and argues that they are carving autonomy, space and authority in the inner Daoist sphere as well as the outer public sphere, through their talent, training, dedication, innovation, negotiation and accomplishment. It will trace the history of Daoism in Mt Qingcheng, examine changing positions of Daoist women from ancient nüguan to present Kundao, and shows how contemporary female Daoist monks are achieving their objectives through distinct models of leadership.

Speaker

Pralay Kanungo, currently a Fellow at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden University, was formerly Professor at the Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and a Professor/ICCR Chair of Contemporary India Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands. He was a DAAD Guest Professor at Heidelberg University, Germany, Fellow at Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt University, Germany, Honorary Professor at Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Guest Professor at Sichuan University, Chengdu, PRC, Visiting Professor at Maison des Sciences De L’Homme, Paris and Principal Indian Investigator of the Indian-European Research Networking Project in Social Sciences. He authored RSS’s Tryst with Politics: From Hedgewar to Sudarshan (Manohar, 2002) and co-edited The Algebra of Warfare-Welfare (Oxford University Press, 2019), The Politics of Ethnicity in India, Nepal and China (Primus, 2014), Public Hinduisms (Sage, 2012), and Cultural Entrenchment of Hindutva (Routledge, 2011).

Chair

Poonam Surie, an economist by training from the Delhi School of Economics, is an Independent Researcher and Analyst and currently Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. She has taught in the past, at Delhi University and subsequently in Bhutan, New York and Beijing Her book, ‘China: A Search for its Soul’ (2009) deals with ancient links between China and India, the evolving Chinese society, and the return of religion, particularly Buddhism to the country. Her second book, written for the Indian Council of World Affairs, ‘China: Confucius in the Shadows’ (2015) deals with Confucian philosophy and its relevance in contemporary China. Her latest book, Contemporary China: Tradition and Modernity (2024), explores the ongoing negotiations and relationships between the State and Society as they navigate the intersecting realms of tradition and modernity.

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