Abstract: The paper, part of a larger project to examine literati representations of Daoism over the Tang-Song transition, takes up a sub-genre of anecdotes in Song dynasty miscellanies, or biji 筆記. These stories relate meetings between Confucian scholar-officials and Daoists. In these tales, despite their hopes for enlightenment, literati are left with a sense of disappointment and perplexity. These failures do not bring about ill-will toward Daoists on the part of the narrators or the anecdotal protagonists, and the tales as a whole represent a tacit recognition of the autonomy of the Daoist world and the limits of Confucian categories to apprehend it.
Mark Halperin,( Professor, History, UC Davis)