A Preliminary Study on Taoist Hermits in Contemporary China: From the Perspectives of Literary Works and We-Media

This study directs its focus towards contemporary Taoist hermits in the Zhongnan Mountains and Huashan, located in Shaanxi Province, China, via the perspectives of literary works and we-media. Initially, it delves into the motivations underlying the adoption of a hermitic lifestyle among these Taoists. Subsequently, it analyzes the di-verse means by which these hermits sustain their livelihoods in the mountainous re-gions. Next, it conducts an examination of the various religious practices and extraor-dinary experiences of these Taoist hermits. Also, this study contends that some Taoist hermits do not live in complete isolation from secular society; rather, they sustain a tangible connection with the external world. This study unveils a distinct contempo-rary Chinese Taoist group, which has hitherto been overlooked by previous scholarship that predominantly concentrated on the scrutiny of urban or rural Taoist groups in contemporary China.