Appropriating the Dao: The Euro-American Esoteric Reception of China [Hardcover]

Assembling original contributions, this book is a pioneering attempt to address theEuro-American esoteric reception and appropriation of China.

Positioned between eighteenth-century's mesmerism and intersections with the modern martial arts current, the contributions specifically centre on nineteenth and early twentieth-century occult appraisals and representations. This book opens up an under-explored area of research in
the field of EastWest interactions and the global history of religions.

Lukas K. Pokornyis Professor and Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Franz Winteris Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Graz, Austria.

This wonderful collection of essays will appeal to any historian of esotericism and new religious movements. Nova Religio

With the blossoming of research on esotericism's global entanglements, one conspicuous lacuna has remained: the Chinese connection. Not anymore. This pioneering collection firmly establishes Euro-American engagements with China as a central and long-standing element of global esotericism. Its new vistas will shape scholarship for years to come. Egil Asprem, Professor of the History of Religions, Stockholm University, Sweden

Esoteric fantasies and orientalist speculations about Chinese religions have played a significant role in Western cultural history, but this a topic that has hitherto been remarkably neglected by scholars. This splendid volume fills a major lacuna and will be the essential point of departure for further research. Olav Hammer, Professor of The Study of Religions, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

This groundbreaking volume offers a penetrating analysilÃ%