Lineages Embedded in Temple Networks explores the key role played by elite Daoists in social and cultural life in Ming China, notably by mediating between local networks—biological lineages, territorial communities, temples, and festivals—and the state. They did this through their organization in clerical lineages—their own empire-wide networks for channeling knowledge, patronage, and resources—and by controlling central temples that were nodes of local social structures.

In this book, the only comprehensive social history of local Daoism during the Ming largely based on literary sources and fieldwork, Richard G. Wang delineates the interface between local organizations (such as lineages and temple networks) and central state institutions. The first part provides the framework for viewing Daoism as a social institution in regard to both its religious lineages and its service to the state in the bureaucratic apparatus to implement state orthodoxy. The second part follows four cases to reveal the connections between clerical lineages and local networks. Wang illustrates how Daoism claimed a universal ideology and civilizing force that mediated between local organizations and central state institutions, which in turn brought meaning and legitimacy to both local society and the state.

"[Wang’s] extensive archival research and fieldwork, as well as frequent engagement with scholarly studies in multiple fields, have together yielded an exciting new book on Ming China…Essential reading for students of Chinese religions and local societies well beyond the Ming period." - Journal of Chinese History

"[This] book stands on its own as an exemplar of Ming historiography. That it does so without losing the forest for the trees makes this book an monumental contribution to the field of Chinese religion and a great benefit to the study of local, regional, and state-centralized networks of religious identities...[it] offers a meticulous study into Daoism’s critical role in the Ming that proves essential for the study of Chinese religious history…will prove indispensable for students of Chinese religions." - Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Deserves great credit for presenting a clear and compelling social/cultural history of Ming Daoism and local society based on an interdisciplinary approach combining literary sources and ethnographic research. …The author has set a new standard for research on Daoist history. This work will be of immense value to researchers, as well as graduate students and advanced undergraduates interested in these topics." - Ming Studies

"Richard G. Wang offers a new…impressive book on Daoism in Ming culture and society. He has established himself as the authority on this topic, which is a whole scholarly field in its own right… Scholars interested in Chinese society and culture, especially during the late imperial period…would hugely benefit from reading this book, as it will help them understand how deeply intertwined the political and institutional culture of the Ming empire as well as the structure of lineage centric local society were with Daoist ritual traditions." - Journal of the American Oriental Society