Picturing the True Form: Daoist Visual Culture in Traditional China

Picturing the True Form investigates the long-neglected visual culture of Daoism, China’s primary indigenous religion, from the tenth through thirteenth centuries. In this richly illustrated book, Huang provides a comprehensive mapping of Daoist images and reveals three central modes of Daoist symbolism. She shows how Daoist image-making goes beyond the traditional dichotomy of text and image to incorporate writings in image design. It is these particular features that distinguish Daoist visual culture from its Buddhist counterpart.