Like Daoism, Daoist iconography is not easily described as a unity. The focus in this entry will be on the visual expressions of the organized religion whose origins can be traced to the second century CE, but this religion and its iconography cannot be understood without reference to the intellectual and religious developments that formed its background.

Background

Many of the tenets that the Daoist religion came to embrace evolved during the last four centuries BCE, the period that forged the worldview of imperial China. A chief concern for the competing rulers of the late Warring States period (403–221 BCE) and the founders of the succeeding Qin (221–206 BCE) and Han (206 BCE–220 CE) dynasties was the sanction of political power, based on the previous conception of a mandate (ming, also meaning "destiny" and "life") bestowed by heaven (tian) on one who possessed perfect virtue or "inner power" (De...