Vincent Goossaert is deputy director of the Groupe societes, religions, laicites at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris. He is the author of The Taoists of Peking, 1800-1949: A Social History of Urban Clerics, among other books. David A. Palmer is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and research fellow at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China, among other books.

"This is a pioneering and original work of scholarship that draws on long-term and painstaking research to successfully redefine the role of religion in modern Chinese history. Experts and casual readers alike will benefit immensely from its publication." (Paul Katz, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan)"

Vincent Goossaert is deputy director of the Groupe societes, religions, laicites at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris. He is the author of The Taoists of Peking, 1800-1949: A Social History of Urban Clerics, among other books. David A. Palmer is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and research fellow at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China, among other books.

"This is a pioneering and original work of scholarship that draws on long-term and painstaking research to successfully redefine the role of religion in modern Chinese history. Experts and casual readers alike will benefit immensely from its publication." (Paul Katz, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan)"