Daoism in China is a volume in The Commercial Press's Cultural History Knowledge Series, written by Jin Zhengyao, a scholar of the history of ancient Chinese religion and science. Taking chronology as its thread and sects and doctrines as its weave, the book systematically traces Daoism's overall course from its founding in the Eastern Han to its decline in the Ming and Qing, at roughly 80,000 characters—a topical introduction aimed at general readers. The opening "Introduction" first sets out Daoism's religious character and an interpretive framework, then proceeds through five periods in turn: the founding of Daoism in the Eastern Han, covering the composition of the Taiping Jing and its religious doctrines, Zhang Jiao and the Way of Great Peace, the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice and the Laozi Xiang'er Zhu, the Zhouyi Cantong Qi and Han-dynasty fangshi, and the relation between Daoism's world-transcending orientation and ancient Chinese culture; the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, discussing the spirit of the age and Daoism's development, Ge Hong's establishment of a system of immortal theory, Kou Qianzhi's reform of the Way of the Celestial Masters, Lu Xiujing's contributions to Daoism, the immortal world constructed by Tao Hongjing, and the Louguan Dao and the Buddhist-Daoist controversy; the Sui and Tang, focusing on dynastic patronage of Daoism, the flourishing of the talisman-and-register schools and alchemy, and notable Daoist figures; the Song and Yuan, surveying the development of the talisman-and-register schools, the spread of internal-alchemy immortality beliefs, the evolution of supreme-deity worship, and the rise of Quanzhen Daoism; and the Ming and Qing, from the Ming court's relation to Daoism, the compilation of the Daozang, popular deity worship, the two Daoist traditions and folk religion, all the way to Daoism's decline. The book's thread is clear and its narration plain; it neither sensationalizes nor merely lists concepts, making it suitable as a first book for entering the history of Chinese Daoism and convenient for readers to build an overall understanding dynasty by dynasty.
道教是中国土生土长的宗教，却常在「炼丹成仙」「符箓驱邪」的印象里被误读。这本小书的好处，是把神话还给历史：从《太平经》的政治理想、张角与太平道，到葛洪的神仙理论、寇谦之的道团整顿、陶弘景的神仙谱系，再到唐代炼丹术的兴盛、宋元内丹与全真道的崛起、明清道教与民间宗教的合流，一条朝代线索贯穿到底。 作者金正耀长期研究中国古代宗教与科学史，对炼丹术、金属资源考古用力尤深，因此书中谈炼制、谈方术，往往能落到实处，而非泛泛描述。全书仅八万字左右，章节按「朝代—专题」切分，每节篇幅短小，读者可依序通读，也可抽单节查阅。 作为《中国文化史知识丛书》的一种，它定位是「入门而不浅薄」：没有繁复的注释和考据，却能让人分清天师道、上清派、灵宝派、全真道的基本关系，理解道教为何与中国政治、医学、民俗纠缠千余年。想系统认识道教，这本书是一个稳妥而不吃力的起点。
The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.
