The Flow of Institutional Charisma: Quanzhen Taoism and Local Performing Arts in Republic Shandong and Henan

Abstract

Quanzhen Taoism and its relationship with local performing arts is an important yet inadequately studied subject, to date, due to the shortage of and limited access to new sources. However, on the basis of historical documents, oral statements and field research, we determined at least eight genres of local performing arts closely related to Quanzhen Taoism, especially its sublineage, the Longmen School, in Republic Shandong and Henan. They traced back their own history to Quanzhen Taoist patriarch WANG Chongyang, adopted the Quanzhen Taoist lineage poem to name their disciples, and created the Ever Spring Guild (Changchun hui 長春會), in the name of Quanzhen Taoist QIU Changchun 丘長春, to assist each other. In other words, the Quanzhen Taoist institution was imitated by the local performing arts and, at the same time, the local artists performed some reasonable adaptations and accommodations to meet their own needs. By reviewing the local performing arts in Shangdong and Henan provinces, we can further understand Quanzhen Taoism in popular cultural traditions and local societies.