CUHK Research: Changing the world

True to its motto, CUHK was receptive to Professor Lai’s endeavours to build rich undergraduate and graduate programmes for Daoist studies. Also supportive were major Daoist institutions and donors in Hong Kong. For example, between 2006 and 2020, CUHK received donations totalling HK$30 million from Hong Kong Fung Ying Seen Koon for its Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, headed by Professor Lai and still the only one of its kind. “We have been able to create a new paradigm for Daoist studies in Hong Kong,” he says. Professor Lai’s methodology for studying Dao i sm i nc l udes phenomeno l og i ca l , psychological and anthropological theories of religion. It values empathy and immersion in the religious mind and looks beyond Daoist philosophy to broader aspects of Daoism as a culture with its own scriptures, ritual liturgy, meditation, mindfulness, and even alchemy. Professor Lai has since nurtured 30 doctoral scholars of Daoism from as far away as Brazil and Italy. Most now teach Daoism in universities. Professor Lai also enlivens undergraduate courses by taking students on field trips to Daoist temples and festivals for direct encounters with Daoist masters. “Where an anthropologist or historian studies Daoist rituals and society, I try to understand the Daoist master’s mind,” he says. Scholarly riches Professor Lai is proud that CUHK is now a world-renowned centre of scholarship in Daoist studies. Its collection of Daoist reference works in Chinese, Japanese and English is, he believes, the world’s best. “We could only help to turn around Daoism’s poor image through scholarly research outputs,” he says. These have been copious, with several “firsts” for CUHK’s centre. They include a 12-year project, with contributions from 70 Daoist scholars around the world, to compile and publish the first annotated Daoist Canon of the Qing dynasty. They also include a multi-media Daoist Digital Museum – digitising CUHK’s vast repository of academic research into Daoism in Guangdong – and the first complete collection of stele inscriptions in Chinese temples in Hong Kong, some dating back nearly 800 years. The Lingnan heartland Now, Professor Lai is leading a collaborative research project, funded by Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council, on southern China’s Lingnan culture. “Many projects related to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) emphasise economic development over cultural components,” he observes. “As scholars of the Guangdong people, we need to bring Lingnan culture into GBA studies.” Professor Lai wants to help CUHK build a centre for multidisciplinary studies of Lingnan culture, covering Daoism, literature, art, printing, periodicals, and translation. Much Western knowledge and culture, he notes, was imported into China through Guangzhou where it was absorbed into Cantonese culture and language. “We will be able to rediscover the vitality, significance and impact of Lingnan culture for the world,” says Professor Lai. I wanted to establish a fieldof Daoist studies to help students and society rediscover this rich and important Chinese cultural and religious tradition. 49