China Studies Research Centre, La Trobe University
2:30 -4:00pm Wednesday 28 March
Room 318, Education 2 (ED2), La Trobe University
With millions of followers, the Way of Pervading Unity (Yiguandao) is a rapidly expanding religious group not only in Asia but also globally. Originating in China, today it remains banned in the PRC. In contrast, it was legalized in 1987 in Taiwan and has since become one of the island’s prominent religions. Based on fieldwork carried out since 2009 in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the PRC, this presentation explains the dynamics of Yiguandao’s development. It examines the way adepts live their faith, the organization of charisma in the organization, the role of Confucianism in a syncretistic environment, as well as specific expansion strategies implemented by the group.
For more information please visit Popular Religion in Greater China: Yiguandao
About the Speaker
Sébastien Billioud is Professor of Chinese studies at University Paris-Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité and the current Head (2017-19) of the Taipei branch of the French Center for Research on Contemporary China located at Academia Sinica. Publications include Thinking through Confucian Modernity: A Study of Mou Zongsan’s Moral Metaphysics (Brill, 2012), in collaboration with Joël Thoraval, The Sage and the People: The Confucian Revival in China (Oxford University Press, 2015 and CNRS Editions, 2014) and, as editor, The Varieties of Confucian Experience (Brill, 2018, forthcoming). He is currently completing a new monograph entitled Reclaiming the Wilderness, Contemporary Dynamics of the Yiguandao. Professor Billioud is currently a visiting scholar in the China Studies Research Centre of La Trobe University.