 |
customer@davidpublishing.com |
 |
3275638434 |
 |
 |
| Paper Publishing WeChat |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Henri Maspero’s Studies of Religious Taoism and the Spirit of Chinese Aesthetics
TANG Yue
Full-Text PDF
XML 61 Views
DOI:10.17265/2328-2177/2026.04.003
Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
In international Sinology, the studies of religious Taoism in France stand out as a brilliant pearl. Henri Maspero is one of the key scholars in this field. His research not only inherits the philosophical thought of philosophical Taoism, as represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi, but also develops an institutionalized religious form characterized by beliefs in immortals and practical disciplines. This reveals the evolutionary path of Taoism from philosophy to religion while highlighting its profound aesthetic dimension: On the one hand, through emphasizing themes such as “the practice of immortality” and “the eternity of life”, it religiously and practically embodies the spirit of aesthetics of “creating life” (sheng sheng) in traditional Chinese culture; on the other hand, it offers a unique perspective for the cross-cultural interpretation of the spirit of Chinese aesthetics. Maspero’s studies of religious Taoism particularly manifest theoretical elements of the spirit of Chinese aesthetics such as the “theory of form and spirit” (xing and shen theory) and the “cultivation-realm paradigm” (gongfu-jingjie paradigm). In view of this, engaging in dialogue with the spirit of Western aesthetics within the context of cross-cultural aesthetics can not only promote mutual enrichment and innovation between spirits of Chinese and European aesthetics but also open new paths for the construction and development of theory of contemporary aesthetics.
Henri Maspero, religious Taoism, philosophical Taoism, the spirit of Chinese aesthetics
Cao, Z. J., & Zheng, X. Y. (Eds.). (2013). Yearbook of studies of Chinese religions (2011-2012). Compiled by the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.
Hu, R. (2021). Overseas academic translation of religious Taoism in the 20th century. International Sinology, 8(1), 100-106+205.
Hu, R. (2025). Reflections on the methods and theories in French studies of religious Taoism: Focusing on Henri Maspero and Kristofer Schipper. Journal of Sichuan University (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), 57(4), 134-143+235.
Li, P. (2017). “Wandering in absolute freedom” and “non-dependence”: The aesthetic time-space from philosophical Taoism to religious Taoism. Religious Studies, 36(4), 35-39.
Maspero, H. (1965). La Chine antique (nouvelle édition). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Maspero, H. (1971). Le Taoïsme et les Religions Chinoises. Paris: Gallimard.
Maspero, H. (2007). Religious Taoism. (R. Hu, Trans.). Religious Studies, 26(1), 1-5.
Maspero, H. (2010). Religious Taoism during the Six Dynasties period. (R. Hu, Trans.). Religious Studies, 29(4), 43-53.
Maspero, H. (2015). The art of longevity and the mysterious view of life in religious Taoism during the Zhuangzi era. (R. Hu, Trans.). Religious Studies, 34(4), 34-39.
Maspero, H. (2018). A study of the theory of religious Taoism of Qi and the method of ingesting external Qi. (R. Hu, Trans.). Religious Studies, 37(2), 103-113.
Pan, X. Y. (1995). The great beauty without words: On the categories of aesthetics of religious Taoism. Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Publishing House.
Shaughnessy, E. L. (2017). Xiguan Hanji: Xifang Hanxue Chutu Wenxian Yanjiu Gaiyao (Chinese annals in the Western observatory: An overview of Western Sinologists’ studies of Chinese excavated documents). Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House.
Xi, J. P. (2015). A study guide to President Xi Jinping’s important speech at the symposium on literary and art work. Compiled by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Beijing: Learning Press.
Xie, Z. Y. (2025). The two trips to China of French sinologist Henri Maspero. History of World, 32(2), 36-40.
Ye, L. (2025). On the spirit of Chinese aesthetics. Qiushi, 38(9), 70-73.
Zhang, J. (2016). “Three emphases”: The essence of Chinese aesthetics. Literary Review, 47(3), 30-34.