I never knew much about Taoism till I attended a lecture on Taoism in March. I was rather impressed and enlightened with the teachings of Taoism (compiled in the book 道德经); profound, philosophical and full of paradoxes and contradictions which are applicable to our daily life.

The teaching of Laozi is based on a great underlying principle, 道, or the Way, which is "the source of all being, the governor of all life, human and natural, and the basic undivided unity in which all contradictions and distinctions of existence are ultimately resolved. This can be captured in a central concept of Taoism - 无为, which is often expressed by the paradox "为无为", meaning action without action. The way of life is to "do nothing"; to be accepting and yielding. ("The way to do is to be.") This is characterized by Water through its yielding nature. Water is soft but strong as nothing can tear, repair or wear water. One should be flexible like how water flows, to serve as we go along. ("Those who flow as life flows knows.")

The following is my essay (minus the photos; photos were in my presentation) for my module Chinese Culture & Society. I was supposed to report on a trip I've made in China so I decided on Mt QingCheng, one of the birthplaces of Taoism. It is written from a sociological point of view, in an attempt to apply what I have learnt from the Sociology of Tourism (i spent quite some time staring at mw's essay just to get some ideas and inspiration-u might find some quotes familiar lol) and my humble understanding of Taoism, which started out as a way of life and became a religion later.