White Cloud
Readies for Rush

Good old-fashioned family fun comes to the White Cloud Temple every Spring Festival with its annual temple fair.

What draws the crowds to the Beijing temple at this time of year can also be characterized as a kind of cathartic craving for spiritual replenishment.

The new year affords fast-changing Chinese an opportunity to take stock, return to their roots and forge friendly ties with their ancestors.

As the only major religion indigenous to China, Daoism can also afford observant visitors a fleeting glimpse into the ancient Chinese soul. It is packed full of surprises. For example:

"The use of force will soon incur requital.
Wherever armies are stationed, briers and thorns grow wild.
Great wars are always followed by famines.
Content yourselves with your success and stop.
Do not seek to dominate under Heaven by force of arms."

-- Lao Zi, Dao De Jing

Genghis Khan apparently enjoyed nothing more than listening to this kind of stuff from Daoist priest Qiu Changchun and lent his support to Qiu's Quan Zhen sect (founded in 1167 by Wang Chongyang in Ninghai, now Mouping County, Shandong).

Khan invited Qiu to "cultivate himself" in the Tianchang Temple on his return to Yanjing (now Beijing) from the Great Snow Mountain in 1224 and placed one of his disciples Wang Zhijing in charge of rebuilding it.

Tianchang had recently burned down (in 1202).

It had been built by Emperor Xuan Zong (713-756) of the Tang Dynasty to house a stone statue of the seated figure of Lao Zi. The statue can today be seen in the exhibition hall.

The new building was dubbed Taiji Palace. After Qiu's death, his disciples buried his remains in the east of the palace abd them built Chushun Hall. In 1227, Genghis Khan renamed the palace Changchun Palace.

The palace fell into ruin, more buildings were added finally became known by its present name soemtime during the Ming Dynasty (1368-644) during one of Daoism's brief comebacks.

The temple was also renovated in the Qing Dynasty.

Today, White Cloud (Baiyunguan) remains essentially the same as it was after renovation in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Here Laozi (the Old One), the founding philosopher of Daoism, is worshipped the "Lord the Most High" by Daoist monks.

For those who savor Daoism as the only religion with a sense of humor or revel in its rich existential philosophy, this tourist attraction, the headquarters of the Chinese Daoist Association and chief temple of the Quan Zhen Daoist sect and center of the Longmen subsect, may serve as something of a rude awakening.

Religious Daoism's origins belong to Shamanism, sophisticated charms and regimens believed to ensure immortality as practised in the Qin and Western Han dynasties (221-207 BC and 206 BC-24 AD).

The highest deities of the evolved religion are the three pure gods -- Yuan Shi, Ling Bao and Dao De -- and its pantheon includes many deities of popular cults including "the Heavenly Deities, Earthly Immortals and Human Spirits."

There is no shortage of deities in Quan Zhen Daoism. Their intriguing folk tale origins ought keep an army of State anthropologists busy for a millennium or two.

For the monotheistic man-about-town, this temple is perhaps not unlike his own favorite European cathedral -- boasts a baffling array of culturally-bound icons, a mythological heritage losing out to TV ratings.

Beijing This Month took a tour, pursued a few frightened monks and came back even more confused by a cast of lively Daoist deities.

The official State tourist attraction did not charge extra to foreigners. It was undergoing major restoration work at time of visiting, but work was scheduled for completion by festival time.