New Venues

News of the Field / 239 Social Lives of Dead Bodies in Modern China Providence, June 14‑16, 2013 Funded by an ACLS/CCK grant and by Brown University, this gathers the best scholarship on dead bodies from the mid‑19th century onward. Topics include Epistemology (perception apprehension), Impresarios (funeral directors ritual masters state actors), Instrumental Encounters (processing investigation technologies), and Reincorporation (social role images remembrances). The conference will operate as a workshop with papers pre‑circulated and a volume to be published. Limited funding is available. For more details, contact deadbodiesconference@gmail.com. —Rebecca Nedostup New Venues Taoist College (Singapore) The first formal Daoist academy in Singapore, the Taoist College 新加坡 道教学院 was founded in January 2008. It is funded (and for the moment housed) by the Sanqinggong Temple in the northeast section of the is‑ land and supported by the Taoist Federation as well as various local Daoist organizations, scholars, businessmen, and priests. The College has attracted over a thousand people since its inception and is growing rap‑ idly, hoping to establish its own campus in the near future. To offer lay followers the opportunity to listen to renowned speak‑ ers and learn more about their religion, the College has organized lec‑ tures in three major formats: (1) The Taoist Culture Program offers ten or more courses every year, covering such diverse topics as Daoist history, philosophy, scrip‑ tures, self‑cultivation, ritual, and calligraphy. Taught by leading scholars and priests from around the world in either Chinese or English, each course consists of thirty‑six contact hours or twelve 3‑hour lectures over three to six weeks. Students attend regularly and pass examinations to receive academic credit and a certificate. 240 / Journal of Daoist Studies 6 (2013) (2) Short‑term Classes provide a more compact version of these courses that can be taken in one week. (3) The Cultural Forum offers individual public lectures on specific Daoist topics on an occasional basis. Topics vary, including different as‑ pects of traditional Chinese culture (such as the Analects of Confucius), the worldview of the Three Teachings, Chinese art and literture, and so on. For more information, see www.taoistcollege.org.sg. —Xu Liying Yang-Sheng Magazine Yang‑Sheng (Nurturing Life) is a bi‑monthly E‑magazine published by Kevin W. Chen, professor at the Center of Integrative Medicine and De‑ partment of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland. The editor‑in‑chief is Christina Barea‑Young, ordained Zhengyi Daoist and medical qigong therapist. With its comprehensive website that provides archived articles and resources, Yang‑Sheng furnishes a network for people interested in whole‑being wellness. Its most recent venture also involves a bilingual printed publication (English‑Chinese) distributed in the United States. Yang‑Sheng is supported by authors and helpers from many dif‑ ferent backgrounds including: healthcare professionals of preventive medicine; practitioners of mind‑body exercise such as: meditation, qigong, taiji, yoga, and reiki; as well as spiritual cultivators, mindfulness practitioners, and health seekers. The magazine promotes wellness through the dissemination of knowledge and experience of leaders in TCM, qigong, taiji, and other mind/body practices. Yang‑Sheng provides an important resource to the community by merging traditional life‑nurturing knowledge with modern scientific re‑ search and clinical evidence. It combines ancient wisdom with contem‑ porary experience to support daily practice and well‑being, and to reach true meaning of health in body mind and spirit. Column topics include Daoist meditation, practice, and philosophy as well as instruction in taiji quan, qigong, yoga, traditional herbs, comedy, and much more. For more, visit www.yang‑sheng.com. —Christina Barea‑Young ...