Prof. Lai Chi Tim, the Director of the Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, will give a talk about Daoist culture in Hong Kong with his newly published book, A Complete Collection of Stele Inscriptions in Hong Kong Temples (in Chinese, 3 volumes).
Dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty (1274) and down to the present day (2021), the book set depicts a total of 130 temples and 455 inscriptions all around Hong Kong by field research, as well as traces of the original stele documents. There are a thousand precious images of temples, stele pictures, statues, and cultural relics taken on the spot, which are of great historical value and reflect the vitality of the temple culture, revealing the changes in regions, ethnic groups, and communities of Hong Kong society.
The Speaker
Lai Chi Tim is Professor in Daoist Studies at the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is now serving as the Director of the Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, and Associate Director of the Institute of Chinese Studies. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Divinity School, specializing in Daoism, history of religions, and social scientific theories of religion.
He is currently working on Six Dynasties Daoism, early Heavenly Master texts, Daoist ritual tradition, and the history of Daoism in Guangdong and Hong Kong. His major research projects include Collection of Daoist Epigraphy in Guangdong: A Study of Daoism and Local Society (RGC General Research Fund grant); Temples, Urban Society, and Taoists, 1860-2010: The Modern Transformation of Urban Chinese Religious Organization (CCK Foundation); and Contemporary Development of Daoist Temples in Guangdong (Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, CUHK).
He is the author of Daoist Temple Inscription in Guangzhou (Beijing: Zhonghua Shu Ju, 2013); Guangdong Local Daoism: Daoist Temple, Master, and Ritual (Chinese University Press, 2007); Religious Studies and Hermeneutics (Chinese University Press, 2003); Hong Kong Daoism (co-author, 2009); History and Transmission of Daoist Temple Ritual in Hong Kong (co-author, 2007). He has also edited Conflict and Peace in Religions (2007), Daoism in Hong Kong and South China (2005), Daoist Studies and Chinese Religious Culture (2003), Interpretation of Hope in Chinese Religions and Christianity (2002), and Daoism and Popular Religions (1999). His major articles cover the Six Dynasties of Daoism, Daoist ritual studies, and the history of Daoism in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, published in international refereed journals.
Programme
Admission: In Person at $160 for members, $200 for guests /non-members (Light refreshments are included in the admission fee)
Walk-in guests are welcome depending on availability.
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