Monica Esposito
Born in Italy’s port city of Genova, Dr Esposito (1962-2011) studied Chinese at the Università Ca’Foscari in Venice, Fudan University in Shanghai, and the University of Paris. Her Ph.D. thesis on the Longmen tradition of Daoism (La Porte du Dragon, 1993), a pioneering deconstruction of a dominant foundation myth of modern Daoism, has become a classic in the field.
From 1997 to 2011, pursued her research in Japan, first as a postdoctoral fellow at Kansai University and then as Associate Professor at Kyoto University’s Institute for Research in Humanities. In addition to six documentary films she published groundbreaking books and articles in Italian, English, Japanese, and Chinese that established her reputation as one of the world’s foremost scholars of Daoism. She founded and directed the International Daozang jiyao Project with over sixty scientific collaborators studying this most important and voluminous canon of Daoist texts of the Qing dynasty.
Facets of Qing Daoism
Wil (Switzerland) / Paris: UniversityMedia, 2014 / 2016. 387 pages. ISBN 978-3-906000-06-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-3-906000-07-7 (paperback)
Though it has long been clear that modern Daoism has its roots in Daoist movements of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), research on premodern Daoism had been largely neglected. Published in six languages (Italian, French, English, German, Chinese, and Japanese), Monica Esposito’s pioneering studies on Qing Daoism have been instrumental in kindling keen scholarly interest both in the West and in China and Japan.
This volume presents revised and augmented versions of five of Monica Esposito’s seminal articles. Three had originally been published in English, and the remaining two are her English versions of articles that had hitherto only been available in Japanese. In addition it contains a bibliography of all her publications.
This book is sold worldwide at all major internet bookstores. For orders of five or more copies we offer discounts; please contact our representative.
1. Daoism in the Qing (1644–1911)
Revised and augmented edition of the article published in L. Kohn (ed.), Daoism Handbook, 623–658. Leiden, 2000: 623–658.
2. The Longmen School and its Controversial History during the Qing Dynasty
Revised and augmented edition of the article published in John Lagerwey (ed.), Religion and Chinese Society: The Transformation of a Field, vol. 2, pp. 621–698. Paris: EFEO & Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004.
3. Longmen Taoism in Qing China: Doctrinal Ideal and Local Reality
Revised and augmented edition of the article published in the Journal of Chinese Religions 29 (2001): 191–231 (Special Number on Quanzhen ed. by Vincent Goossaert and Paul Katz). The author incorporated a section from her conference paper “Qingdai Quanzhen jiao zhi chonggou: Min Yide ji qi jianli Longmen zhengtong de yiyuan 清代全真教之重構：閔一得及其建立龍門正統得意願” “[Reinventing Quanzhen during the Qing: Min Yide and his will to Longmen Orthodoxy] presented at the International Quanzhen conference, Hong Kong: January 6–8, 2010. The Appendix is based on her unpublished contribution to “The Roots of Neidan” Conference, Stanford University, May 30–31, 2003.
4. Beheading the Red Dragon: The Heart of Feminine Alchemy
English version of an article that has hitherto only been published in Japanese translation: “Gyakuten shita zō—jotan no shintai kan 逆転した像–女丹の身体觀.” In Sakade Yoshinobu sensei taikyū kinen ronshū kankō kai 坂祥伸先生退休記念論集刊行会 (ed.), Chūgoku shisō ni okeru shintai, shizen, shinkō 中国思想における身体・自然・信仰. Tokyo: Tōhō shoten 東方書店, 2004, pp. 113–129.
5. An Example of Daoist and Tantric Interaction during the Qing Dynasty: The Longmen Xizhu xinzong
English version an article that has hitherto only been published in Japanese translation “Shindai dōkyō to mikkyō: Ryūmon seijiku shinshū 清代道教と密教：龍門西竺心宗.” In Mugitani Kunio 麦谷邦夫 (ed.), Sankyō kōshō ronsō 三教交渉論叢. Kyoto: Jinbun kagaku kenkyūjo 人文科学研究所, 2005, pp. 287–338.