It is difficult to say what was the first Daoist structure in China or when or where it was built. It seems certain that large Daoist temple complexes were not erected during the age of the philosophers Laozi in the sixth century BCE or Zhuangzi in the fourth to early third century BCE. By the early centuries of the Common Era, Daoist architecture was constructed in China, although even then it may not have been explicitly associated with a codified doctrine or what we today think of as religious practices. The ambiguity is inherent in attempts to define Daoism itself. Certainly Daoist temple compounds are groups of buildings that contain images of identifiable Daoist deities and are backdrops for Daoist rituals and worship. Yet sacred mountains and other elements of the landscape or natural settings, with little or no architecture, may provide equally fervent...