In 1912, the Qing dynasty ended and the Republic of China began. The new political order brought new debates about “religion” versus “superstition,” which affected Daoist temples, clergy, and local ritual life. This set the stage for both pressure on Daoist institutions and new efforts to modernize and reorganize Daoism.
In 1916, Guiyidao (“Way of the Return to the One”) began in Shandong as a spirit-writing (fuji) group and later expanded into a large salvationist movement. While not identical to institutional Daoism, it drew on Daoist ideas and competed for followers in the same religious marketplace. Its rise illustrates how Republican-era social change encouraged new religious organizations alongside older Daoist lineages.
From 1920 to 1926, “Spirit Soldier” uprisings in parts of Hubei and Sichuan involved Daoist priests who led militant spiritual movements against warlords and heavy taxation. The rebels used rituals and talismans they believed would protect them from bullets, blending religion with popular resistance. These events fed official suspicion of religious groups and helped frame some Daoist-associated practices as politically risky.
In 1922, the Red Swastika Society was founded in China as a major charitable organization connected to Guiyidao/Daoyuan networks. It modeled some activities on modern humanitarian groups (like disaster relief), showing how religious groups adapted to new expectations about public service. This charity work later intersected with wartime crises in ways that affected perceptions of Chinese religion, including Daoism.
After earlier printing plates were destroyed in 1900, President Xu Shichang supported reproducing the Ming Daoist Canon (Daozang). The project involved Shanghai’s Commercial Press and the Hanfenlou bibliophile group, improving access to Daoist scriptures for scholars and practitioners. This marked an important “revival through print,” helping Daoism respond to modern academic and publishing worlds.
A major expanded reprint of the Daozang jiyao (a “selected canon”) had been published earlier (1906), but additional texts continued to be added up to 1929. This kind of ongoing compilation shows how Daoist textual traditions were still being edited, reorganized, and made usable for new readers in the Republican era. It also reflects a broader shift toward standardizing and re-packaging Daoist learning for modern study.
In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek launched the New Life Movement to reshape public behavior through a state-led moral campaign. Although not aimed only at Daoism, the movement reflected a political climate that valued disciplined “modern” civic conduct and often treated popular ritual practices as backward. Daoist temples and clergy operated in this environment of moral regulation and ideological competition.
After Japanese forces captured Nanjing on December 13, 1937, mass violence continued into early 1938. The Red Swastika Society participated in burial work, leaving records that later became part of historical debates about death tolls and documentation. This episode shows how religiously connected charities were pulled into emergency relief during wartime, reshaping their public role.
In 1938, Chen Yingning founded the Shanghai Xianxueyuan (Academy for the Study of Alchemy), focusing on neidan (internal alchemy), a Daoist self-cultivation tradition. By organizing study circles and publishing, Chen helped recast parts of Daoist practice as “research” and “cultivation” compatible with modern education. This reflects a Republican-era reform strategy: defend Daoism by emphasizing disciplined training, texts, and health-related practices.
Beijing’s White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), a key Quanzhen Daoist center, experienced institutional disruption during the 1940s, including a period without an abbot. This highlights how war, occupation, and political upheaval weakened some major Daoist monasteries’ normal governance. Such instability also contributed to later efforts to create stronger, centralized organizational structures for Daoism.
On April 28, 1949, Zhang Enpu (the 63rd Celestial Master of the Zhengyi tradition) left Longhu Mountain (Longhu Shan) as Communist forces crossed the Yangtze and moved south. His departure symbolized a major break for hereditary Zhengyi leadership based at Longhu Shan and foreshadowed institutional splits across the Taiwan Strait. It also marks how civil war directly disrupted Daoist centers tied to land, lineage property, and regional authority.
In December 1949, Zhang Enpu arrived in Taiwan after time in Hong Kong. In Taiwan, he sought permission to build a firmer organization for Daoism under the Republic of China government, reinforcing a Taiwan-based trajectory for Zhengyi leadership. This helped formalize a long-term schism: Daoist institutions on the mainland would soon be reorganized under the People’s Republic, while Taiwan developed its own Daoist organizational landscape.
Taoism during the Republican era: reform, revival, and schisms (1912–1949)