A History of Daoism and the Yao People of South China

224 Pages·2007·11.906 MB·English

by  Eli, Alberts

A H D
istory of aoism
Y P
and the ao eople
S C
of outh hina

A H D
istory of aoism
Y P
and the ao eople
S C
of outh hina
Eli Alberts
CAMBRIA
PRESS
Youngstown, New York
Copyright 2006 Eli Alberts
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior
permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to
[email protected], or mailed to Permissions, Cambria Press,
PO Box 350, Youngstown, New York 14174-0350.
Front cover photo courtesy of Eugene Goh, Singapore.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alberts, Eli.
A History of Daoism and the Yao people of South China / Eli Alberts.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN-13:978-1-934043-14-1 (alk. paper)
1. Yao (Southeast Asian people)—China 2. Taoism. I. Title.
DS731.Y3A53 2006
304.8*95978—dc22
2006034618
For my parents

Table of Contents
Foreword....................................................................................................xiii
Acknowledgments..................................................................................xix
Introduction....................................................................................................1
The Discovery of Yao Daoism.....................................................1
The Dao among the Yao Revisited.............................................2
Yao Daoism Before Liberation...................................................5
The Context of Strickmann’s Argument...............................12
Daoism and Sinification...............................................................14
The Significance and Plan of the Present Work.................17
Part I: Yao....................................................................................................21
Chapter One : Genealogy of a Label:
Center and Periphery.....................23
Introduction......................................................................................23
The Jade Radical and Allusions to Immortal Realms.... 25
viii Table of Contents
The Dog Radical and Associations with Wild Beasts.........26
Radical Questions: What was the Earliest Form?............28
The Moyao M3S» OS...............................30
Connecting Moyao with Yaoren...............................................35
Yaoren as the Opposite of Moyao...........................................39
Conclusion........................................................................................46
Chapter Two : Yao People and The Southern Man Narrative...49
The Narrative Elements..............................................................49
Jingzhou and the Jingman ....................................51
Generic and Specific Applications of the Term Man.....52
Panhu and the Wuling Man........................................................54
The Peach Blossom Spring and the Five Streams............55
Strange and Impenetrable Topography.................................58
Grotto Worlds...................................................................................61
Peach Blossom Spring Grotto and Meishan Mountain.......63
The Man as Outsiders wairen £bÂ.......................................65
Table of Contents ix
The Panhu Myth as the Basis of Man
and State Claims..................................................................67
Taxation and Corvée.....................................................................70
Conclusion........................................................................................73
Chapter Thr ee: The Man Inhabitants of Ba
and the Li Family......................75
The Linjun Myth and the Ba Clan..........................................76
The Banshun Man..........................................................................80
Cong People.....................................................................................83
The Li Family.................................................................................84
The Banshun Man and the Pacification of the
Qiang Tribes...........................................................................89
The Li Family and the Celestial Masters.............................91
The surname Li and Dao-ification I Sinification............91
Conclusion........................................................................................93
Part II: Dao..................................................................................................95
Chapter Fou r: The Emergence and Spread of
the Celestial Masters....................97
Definitional Domains of the Term “Daoism”....................98
X Table of Contents
The Early Celestial Masters and Chinese
Officialdom..........................................................................101
The Western Han Conception of
the Sagely Ruler.................................................................104
The Utopian Vision of the Taipingjing................................107
The Taipingjing as a Daoist or Proto-Daoist Text.........112
The Yellow Turbans and the De-Centralization
of Imperial Authority......................................................113
Banshun Man Connections to the Yellow Turbans.......116
Daoism and Becoming Chinese.............................................118
How Yao Became Daoists:
Strickmann’s Argument..................................................121
Conclusion......................................................................................126
Chapter Five: Textual Mandate on the Periphery:
Script, Image, and Legitimacy
in Yao Culture.................................129
The Passport for Crossing the Mountains..........................132
The Myth of Crossing the Sea................................................134
Visual Framing of the Text.......................................................136