University of Hawai'i Press

The German writer Andreas Schmachtl, well known for his children's books starring small animals—notably a little white mouse called Tilda Appleseed, whose stories are now an animated TV series—recently published a new series, Snöfrid aus dem Wiesental (Snöfrid of Meadow Valley) (2015; 2016; 2017).1

No description available
Click for larger view
View full resolution

The books feature a furry creature that resembles a marmot and is about knee high. Its name Snöfrid designates the species, but because Snöfrids are so rare, it also serves as his personal name. The creature lives in the far north of the planet, in an area called Meadow Valley on the slopes of a mountain under a rock. Snöfrid spends his days enjoying life, eating oats, and foraging for berries. Occasionally he helps himself to some milk in the nearest human village. [End Page 199]

Many aspects of this creature resemble Daoist themes, especially those related to immortals or transcendents (xian 仙). Many stories in ancient China, notably collected by Ge Hong 葛洪 (283-343) in his Shenxian zhuan 神仙傳 (Traditions of Divine Transcendents; trl. Campany 2002), tell about their endeavors: they usually lived as hermits removed from society, were immune to heat and cold, exercised magical powers far beyond those of mere mortals, and interacted in often rather eccentric ways with ordinary society.

These characteristics also apply to Snöfrid. He lives on a remote mountain, withstands the cold, displays power over animals and the elements, and interacts with others without any status constraints. In addition, he also embodies various other Daoist themes, such as a closeness to nature, free and easy wandering, sitting in forgetfulness, and more.

It is not entirely surprising that Daoist themes are essential in a children's book. After all, in the Daoist classics, children are as close to the natural state as is humanly possible, able to be active for long hours without tiring and open to free and clear perception, quite free from societal constraints. A case in point in a modern context is the experiment run by the Washington Post: one of the world's top violinists played at 7:51 a.m. on a Friday morning in the arcade of a Metro Station in Washington, DC while dressed as a street performer. Of the 1,097 passers-by, only seven listened for more than a minute, two appreciated the skill and stayed as long as they could, while one person recognized the performer and stayed for the rest of the performance. No one stayed for more than nine minutes. And yet, each and every child who walked past wanted to stay on and listen. While the adults were too busy, the children exhibited an unperturbed curiosity, open to the wonders of life (Cline 2015, 180).

The Hermit Life

Snöfrid, too, has this quality. He is a little furry animal, about a foot tall who lives as a hermit under a boulder on a mountainside, a good distance from the nearest human village. He enjoys nothing more than to be left alone and rarely encounters anyone, not even another Snöfrid, who are generally quite rare (Schmachtl 2015, ch. 1).

The hermit life echoes the proto-Daoist tradition of the masters of methods (fangshi 方士), forerunners of the school of Numinous Treasure [End Page 200] (Lingbao 靈寶) who stayed away from society to pursue the path of immortality. Living far away from society, they were "unlike any other class of being" (Campany 2009, 49), quite like the Snöfrids. However, as Robert Campany points out, if they really had nothing to do at all with society, how come we know about them? In ancient China, stories about them circulated in society and were collected by people who were either practitioners of the arts of transcendence or had seekers in their family.

In his preface to the hagiographies about immortals, Ge Hong mentions that he, too, collected existing works (Campany 2002, 99). In that sense, a historical claim is made, namely that these aren't simply his inventions. The same holds true for the older Liexian zhuan 列仙傳 (Arrayed Biographies of Immortals), which Ge Hong assures us was also compiled without any inventions added by the compiler of that work. In his Baopuzi 抱朴子 (Book of the Master who Embraces Simplicity), he takes a more argumentative approach trying to convince sceptics that transcendents do exist and the hagiographies are true (2002, 103).

This, too, is similar to the Snöfrid books. In the preface of the first volume (2015), Schmachtl recounts how he heard the story in the north. Witnesses, he claims, are still alive but could not be interviewed directly. Nevertheless, he checked all available sources and came to the conclusion that the tales were true.

In the preface to the second book (2016), he talks about visiting a library, where he discovered a forgotten manuscript that detailed Snöfrid's journey. Discovering a long-lost text is another key Daoist feature: it was one way, in which immortality seekers obtained divine documents, which allowed themselves to be found because the seekers were especially worthy or had the right teachings to locate them.

Nevertheless, the very existence of stories about hermits suggests that there was more interaction with society than one would assume. What is more, people knew where to find them when needed and even recognized them far away from their abode. This strongly suggests that hermits were encountered frequently enough so that people knew what they looked like—in some cases even hosted them at their homes (Campany 2009, 175).

Snöfrid, too, is not only found by specially gifted fairy-men (Feenmännlein) who arrive from distant lands, but he is also recognized by [End Page 201] many different creatures he encounters on his journeys—how ever much Snöfrids are supposed to be rare. Going beyond this, others even seem to know his preferences. Thus, the root-men (Wurzelmänn-chen) he stays with have prepared a room for him that looks very much like his at home and even has a faint smell of his preferred herbs. While being served his favorite food on the next day, he is told that they had prepared for his visit (Schmachtl 2015, 88).

Already the Daodejing 道德經 (Book of Dao and Its Virtue) praises the hermit life: "Without going out the door, [one can] know the world" (ch. 47). This does not mean that the ancient Chinese already had internet, but implies, as noted in the commentary by Heshang Gong 河上公, that "the sages who know the world without going out the door know other people's bodies through their own and their families through their own." In other words, they are able to extrapolate certain concepts and feelings to other people, because they have understood their own body and family by cultivating Dao. Indeed, "those who are good at practicing Dao pursue it in their own body" (ch. 27).

Snöfrid is as close to the ideal of not leaving the house as is feasible. Before his first adventure, he never ventured so far from his cave that he had to sleep outside or find some other lodging. Except for collecting firewood or roaming about a bit, he always stayed close. Still, he would encounter others, some of whom did not have a fixed or classified identity. Snöfrid was accordingly surprised when he encountered a little while ferret (or similar animal) that claims to have no name and wants Snöfrid to find him one. This again connects to Daoist thought, where naming is an aspect of culture that is not always beneficial. Thus, the Daode jing states: "Naming the namable is not constant naming" (ch. 1; Hansen 1992, 216) and the Zhuangzi tells stories about a nameless hermit who doles out wisdom.

Abode and Self

Snöfrid's abode is a hole in the ground, located under a big boulder on a mountainside. It is just about big enough for him, so that when the three tiny fairy-men come visit him to ask for his help, it feels crowded pretty fast (Schmachtl 2015, 27). This description fits the characteristics of the residence of the transcendents as described by Robert Campany. They [End Page 202] would often "dwell alone. Cutting off their traces, they would live on a mountain, in a cave, or in a miniature space, such as a gourd" (2009, 53).

Snöfrids typically live in small caves. For example, the older Snöfrid who appears in the second volume lives on the aptly named Hermit Rock, in a cave that looks just the same as the original protagonist's hole. If anything, it is even further removed from civilization (Schmachtl 2016, 234).

No description available
Click for larger view
View full resolution

Also, Snöfrid's hole sits next to a little stream. In other words, it is located in the optimal position according to fengshui 風水 (Field 2001, 190; in Miller 2017, 45). Plus, he lives in the north and, during his first adventure, heads even further in that direction. In Daoist thought, the north plays a central role. For example, the Zhuangzi starts with a story set in the far north; the Northern Emperor controls life and destiny; the sun in the north is on the brink of reemergence. Similarly, in Daoist cosmology, the Pole Star, the Great One, and the Northern Dipper play central roles and were widely worshipped in antiquity (Xing 2015, 109).

On his second adventure, Snöfrid travels to a coastal town that has a distinct Chinese flavor. It is called Ta-an (Schmachtl 2016, 95), which could mean "stepping ashore" or "great peace."

His life and travels are indeed full of peace. Snöfrid hibernates all winter, and when he heads into the cold, snow-covered north, all he needs is a scarf to fend off the cold (Schmachtl 2015). In this respect he is just like the immortals who are "impervious to extreme cold" (Campany 2009, 48) and "wear less clothing than customary, often having a body [End Page 203] covered with hair" (2009, 56), an expression of the power and purity of their vital energy.

This feature also appears in Daoist fiction that features immortal animals, such as the divine monkey Sun Wukong 孫悟空 and supernatural pig Zhu Bajie 豬八戒 in the Xiyouji 西遊記 (Journey to the West) as well as other spirit animals—dog and tiger—who are still are worshipped in temples today (Brose 2018, 170).

Unlike immortals, though, who tend to live on herbs and even eschew food altogether, a major characteristic of Snöfrid's unique self is his love for oats and porridge. Transcendents at higher stages practice the avoidance of grains (duangu 斷榖) as well as of other foods, moving away from human patterns toward a life of pure qi. Still, Robert Campany points out that grains frequently appear in recipes, such as those found in the Lingbao wufuxu 靈寶五符序 (Explanation of the Five Talismans of Numinous Treasure). Ge Hong, too, did not think ordinary food was harmful, but considered it as inferior (2002, 25). That is to say, Snöfrid again comes out being much like Daoist transcendents.

Magical Powers

Power over the elements is a common theme in stories about transcendents (Campany 2009, 50). This is apparent in the modern tale, where Snöfrid has power over water: by simply sticking his finger into a pond and twirling it around, he removes the pollution that had been caused by a troll. When a frog who sees this calls it an act of magic, Snöfrid replies, "Nonsense! I always do it that way" (Schmachtl 2015, 44).

Perhaps it is a coincidence that Snöfrid displays power over water before anything else. But the Daode jing clearly states that water is close to Dao (ch. 8), and the Taiyi shengshui 太一生水 (The Great One Gives Birth to Water) has: "The Great One gives birth to the waters. The water returns and assists the One, thereby completing the heavens" (Xing 2015, 104). Water is also the element of the north and closely associated with the Pole Star. All this intensifies the overall Daoist flavor of the Snöfrid stories.

Other features include general power over animals and the ability to communicate with them (Campany 2009, 54). Snöfrid can connect to birds and beasts and calls on owls for help when he falls off a cliff [End Page 204] (Schmachtl 2015, 72). On another occasion, he encounters a herd of musk oxen. While everyone else needs a special pipe to appease the oxen with music, he just chats with them and saves his hide (2015, 150). Also, just as transcendents use "animals to deliver objects" (Campany 2009, 54), Snöfrid avails himself of the owls and musk oxen to get to other places.

Invisibility is another power of the immortals (2009, 48), matched by Snöfrid on his second adventure (Schmachtl 2016, 110). While being spied on, he turns himself invisible and turns the tables, spying on the spy. Even in the first book, he eluded the henchmen, presumably by becoming invisible while all his companion got caught. No one—not even his fellows—noticed that he was not captured (2015, 196).

Another feature is that Snöfrid can project his spirit over vast distances (2016, 78). This is reminiscent of the stories collected by Ge Hong that feature immortals travelling vast distances in the blink of an eye and multilocating, that is, managing to be in several places at the same time. In addition, spirit projection is a prime ability in later Daoist texts, such as the Taiyi jinhua zongzhi 太乙金華宗旨 (Secret of the Golden Flower of the Great One). Here it appears as an achievement possible through internal alchemy, the way one can travel beyond the body and this world as one's spirit self or the immortal embryo.

Yet again, transcendents are able to transform things. In one of the stories collected by Ge Hong, Huang Chuping 皇初平 changed sheep into rocks and back into sheep (Campany 2002, 309). Snöfrid, too, can do so. As shown at the end of the first volume, the misbehaving Snöfrid can lay curses on people that turn them into animals—a prince into a furry critter (Schmachtl 2015, 193). This also relates to the ability to "converse with spirits of the unseen realm" (Campany 2009, 54), exhibited when the ghost of a deceased king appears to Snöfrid while his companions are asleep and tells him where he must go (Schmachtl 2015, ch. 21).

In fact, the whole quest requires more than ordinary abilities, showing typical features of an immortality quest. Transcendents can "exterminate an extortionist god, kill a demon posing as a god, eradicate a cult, or otherwise rectify the incorrect behavior of a local deity" (Campany 2009, 54). Similarly, "only a Snöfrid can make another Snöfrid come to his senses" (Schmachtl 2015, 208). A key example is when another Snöfrid bought the name of troll king Asgrimur for himself, made the [End Page 205] trolls worship him, and tried to declare himself king of the realm. In other words, Snöfrids as much as immortals are more than ordinary beings and thus the only ones who can exercise correctional measures.

The extraordinary nature of Snöfrids appears further in the third volume, which points out that they must help those in need. They also have a place for their gatherings, which no other being knows about. In the end, all Snöfrids withdraw to that place after several groups of greedy beings actively try to prevent them from keeping nature in balance (Schmachtl 2017, ch. 27).

One point where Snöfrid may fall short of transcendent status is in this volume. Usually immortals are "impervious to attacks by animals" (Campany 2009, 44). But Snöfrid is out cold for several days after bees—at least as big as himself—try to sting him to death. But he survives (Schmachtl 2017, 108). The whole event takes place on a massive tree outside the human realm. But even if we assume that these bees are more like demons, Snöfrid still falls short of being like a Daoist transcendent, not being immune to wildlife or in control of demons.

There is, however, an interesting practice used by transcendents to get out of places, namely "escape by means of a simulated corpse" (shijie 尸解) (Campany 2009, 47). Something similar happens to Snöfrid when is left for dead on the battlefield after the bee attack then is nowhere to be found and only reappears later (Schmachtl 2017, 171). Escaping by simulated corpse is not quite the same. The immortal uses an everyday object to resemble the likeness of his body and people, thinking that this is his corpse, bury it in his stead. Later, the whole charade comes to light either when somebody gets suspicious and has the body exhumed only to find a coffin empty except for the object—a shoe, cloak, sword, or stick—or when the immortal is spotted alive in a far-off place (Campany 2009, 1).

Beyond the corpse escape, as described in the third volume, Snöfrid can also travel by ghost ship around the northern lights. In order to do so, he has to "become a ghost in a manner of speaking: make your thoughts free; make your heart light" (Schmachtl 2017, 150). It takes him a whole day to achieve that state. More importantly, later in the book when he reenters the state on his own, he is able to fly, again achieving a core ability ascribed to transcendents (Campany 2009, 83) and imitating their feats. Both Snöfrid and the immortals can attain spirit status and travel into the [End Page 206] otherworld, the land of fairies and trolls, and other wondrous realms that no human has ever seen.

Interactions

"Snöfrid was of the opinion that he should only say something if he had actually something to say" (Schmachtl 2015, 14). In fact, he never speaks a lot and does not like to talk, most of the time simply resorting to "hmm." This one syllable can mean anything from indicating a pause or reflection to being short for a multi-sentence paragraph. In some instances, it signals something beyond the description of mere words. In this regard, Snöfrid approaches the ideal of the Daode jing, which says, "Who knows does not speak; who speaks does not know" (ch. 56), while also matching the immortal who "avoids speaking when addressed" (Campany 2009, 55). More interesting though, is that Snöfrid's hmm is often understood and he receives a reply as if he had uttered a normal sentence.

Another Daoist-type attitude is that he dislikes social interactions. Even to people he knows he only talks if "it cannot be avoided" (Schmachtl 2015, 15) and considers not opening the door when the fairy-men come knocking. What finally gets him out of bed after dark and open the door, is merely the worry that the continued noise would keep him from sleeping (Schmachtl 2015, 21). He even hesitates while already standing at the door, and arrives at the conclusion not to open when another knock startles him into asking who's there (Schmachtl 2015, 22).

This closely echoes the Daode jing, which says, "Close the mouth, shut the door, and to the end of life there will be peace without toil" (ch. 52). In addition, avoidance of social interactions is another characteristic of the immortals (Campany 2009, 55), so that the Master on the River (Heshang gong) refuses to attend audience with Emperor Wen until the emperor comes to him! After all, what is the point of living as a hermit if one constantly gets visitors or gets called away?

When interaction cannot be avoided, Snöfrid treats the various people and creatures he encounters more or less the same, no matter their status. Whether the person is a lowly innkeeper or the ruler of a country, Snöfrid is just Snöfrid when dealing with either. In that respect, he resembles the transcendent who "interacts freely across family, gender, [End Page 207] and status boundaries," and has the tendency to ignore social niceties and formal etiquette (Campany 2009, 56).

This ability to overcome and ignore social norms and forget ritual and etiquette is also part of the Daoist meditation practice called "sitting in oblivion" (zuowang 坐忘) and first described in the Zhuangzi (ch. 6). Here Confucius's disciple Yan Hui 顏回 reports that he is "getting better" at attaining Dao. When Confucius asks what he means, Yan Hui says he has "become oblivious of benevolence and righteousness," two essential Confucian virtues that, according to the Daode jing form part of artificial culture and thus represent a big step away from Dao (ch. 18). Confucius tells him that this is good, but that he has not gone far enough.

At their next meeting, Yan Hui says he has left behind "ritual and music," taking aim at the fundamental Confucian ways of interrelating with the world, similarly denounced as betraying true life in the Daode jing. From here Yan Hui moves on to oblivion proper, a state of deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness, during which all sensory and conscious faculties are overcome and which is the base point for attaining Dao (Kohn 2015, 162).

Similarly, when the fairy-men show up to ask for help, Snöfrid declines, because he is "only a Snöfrid" (Schmachtl 2015, 31). The baffled fairy-men conclude that Snöfrid has no clue what a Snöfrid actually is and consequently also no clue what a Snöfrid can do (Schmachtl 2015, 31). In many ways, he is like some other figures in the Zhuangzi such as Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing, a sage who is beyond knowledge, words, and action. "Dao cannot be brought to light; its virtue cannot be forced to come. But benevolence—you can put that into practice, discourse on righteousness, and dupe others with ritual. … He who practices Dao does less every day, does less and goes on doing less, until he reaches the point where he does nothing, does nothing and yet there is nothing that is not done'' (ch. 22).

While Snöfrid does not rest in complete unknowing, he seems to have forgotten what a Snöfrid is—if he ever bothered to know it in the first place, thus being close to a state of oblivion. "Rather than 'forget' danger signals and cultural norms, zuowang [oblivion] allows us to 'never mind' them, actively and consciously override them by focusing on more important and more powerful core values" (Kohn 2015, 176). Perhaps, [End Page 208] knowledge of what a Snöfrid is is not important to him, since Snöfrids rarely encounter each other and avoid interaction with others. He is happy to be just who his is and never minds that knowledge.

Part of this is also the Daoist tendency to refuse official appointments (Campany 2009, 56). When Snöfrid is offered a position as honorary knight at the end of his first quest, he declines (Schmachtl 2015, 225). Not only that, but he also speaks up for the other Snöfrid who is about to receive an unjust punishment (Schmachtl 2015, 227). His defiance of the ruler is yet another action where he exhibits immortals' characteristics (Campany 2009, 56).

At the end of the third book, all Snöfrids withdraw from the world to a place only other Snöfrids know about. While their usual abodes are located where people in need could find them, this retreat is out of reach. Hence the ominous sounding prophecy by the hermit Snöfrid, "The End of Snöfridish Days." Our Snöfrid was brought to this hidden place by others after he was made a scapegoat for a bad harvest, chased from his home, and almost killed twice. At this point he and his fellows decided that, while helping people is their job, they would not do it at any cost.

This suggests that Snöfrids are outside the established structure of personal reciprocity and social hierarchy—not just outside, but above. In this too they are much like Daoist immortals, whose superiority to mere mortals is a central feature. Just like transcendents can do whatever they please and even command gods and demons to do their bidding, Snöfrids act independently of societal demands and expect to be treated with respect. As soon as this respect was no longer forthcoming, they demonstrated their superiority to society by withdrawing from it.

Going with the Flow

The two worst things that could happen to a Snöfrid are running out of oats and not being able to go where he pleases (Schmachtl 2015, 64). Before the start of his quest, Snöfrid spent his days roaming Meadow Valley. "Following one's own natural patterns" (Kohn 2014, 16) is a central theme in the Zhuangzi, whose first chapter is entitled "Free and Easy Wandering" (xiaoyao you 逍遙遊). The term indicates a state of being full of joy and inner contentment, of being who one truly is, and moving [End Page 209] along (shun 順) with the natural changes, going with the flow (Kohn 2014, 16).

In line with this ideal, Snöfrid only goes on his first quest because he feels he needs to take action, being compelled by circumstances and his own inner reality. He goes with the flow by not refusing help to the fairy-men, even though he considers himself unqualified. Similarly, his second quest starts because he feels that it is unavoidable. The same holds true for accepting being led by the hand through several tunnels while evading a spotter working for the enemy. Although it limits his ability to go where he pleases, goes against his nature, and represents one of his core fears, he realizes that accepting guidance will get him out of the tunnels a lot quicker. In other words, he is "letting 'life itself decide how it will go'" (Yang 2007 cited in Kohn 2014, 18).

Moving along smoothly in life, Snöfrid is in overall harmony with nature and spontaneous so-being, a central feature of Dao. "Human beings follow earth; earth follows heaven heaven follows Dao, and Dao follows self-being" or nature (Daode jing 25). That is to say, going up the chain, human beings are ultimately dependent on nature and should model their lives on the spontaneous flow of life. Nature and life, on the other hand, are in a state of constant change, ever new things appearing through unfolding and evolution. Because nature is never stable and cannot be fixed, Daoists practice nonaction (wuwei 無為) and let things unfold naturally (Miller 2017, 37), working with action that is free from society's learned patterns and desires (Hansen 1992, 213).

Snöfrid, too, can be said to realize his spontaneity and practice non-action. He is free from social norms, exemplified in the story when he "borrows" milk from farmers who chase him off. Another example appears in the third book. Here greedy trolls try to harvest tree resin to become rich, and Snöfrid engages in non-purposive action to prevent this: without thinking, he runs at such speed that he takes the troll king by surprise and secures the resin everybody had been fighting over. Along the same lines, whenever he set out on a quest, he did so without thinking, just acting with the flow.

Nature also comes into it in a more concrete and practical way. Seekers of transcendence need to complete their work on mountains or in remote areas (Campany 2009, 106). According to Ge Hong, they do so [End Page 210] because they hope to "obtain the aligned vitality of the landscape" and "gather the grand sights of heaven and earth" (Miller 2017, 23). Similarly, Snöfrids like to live in remote areas, hidden deeply in the mountains, in nature described along the lines of an ideal world: pleasant silence in winter, countless fragrant fruit trees in spring, sheep and goat grazing peacefully in summer (Schmachtl 2015, 11). The trolls, on the other hand, who live in a more man-made environment, are snot-nosed, dirty ruffians who pollute the world. In that sense, part of Snöfrid's quest is to restore the proper balance of nature.

Conclusion

Snöfrid shares many characteristics and attributes of Daoist immortals or transcendents. He lives under a rock on a mountain removed from ordinary society but is not completely isolated. Others know where to find him and come to seek his help. He displays powers beyond those of mere mortals and completes several quests that require higher abilities than those of ordinary beings. To do so, he travels to a place inaccessible to humans in the far north. On his way he exercises power over water, commands animals, and talks to a ghost. He defeats a misbehaving other Snöfrid and restores peace throughout the kingdom, but then refuses the high office offered to him and defies the king to make sure the other Snöfrid receives justice.

The story could easily be included in Ge Hong's collection of divine transcendents: it conforms closely to the pattern of immortals' lives and exploits. Beyond that, Snöfrid's stories also exemplify Daoist ideals found in the ancient classics, such as loving nature, resting in oblivion, acting in nonaction, and going along in free and easy wandering.

Timo Dittrich

Timo Dittrich obtained his MA in Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he also worked as a research assistant in the History Department and the Chinese Language Center. Email: timo_dittrich@alumni.cuhk.net

References

Brose, Benjamin. 2018. "The Pig and the Prostitute: The Cult of Zhu Bajie in Modern Taiwan." Journal of Chinese Religions 46.2:167-96. doi:10.1080/0737769X.2018.1507091.
Campany, Robert Ford. 2002. To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong's Traditions of Divine Transcendents. Berkeley: University of California Press.
_____. 2009. Making Transcendents: Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
Cline, Erin M. 2015. "Infants, Children, and Moral Development in the Zhuangzi and the Daode Jing." In New Visions of the Zhuangzi, edited by Livia Kohn, 180-200. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Three Pines Press.
Hansen, Chad. 1992. A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kohn, Livia. 2014. Zhuangzi: Text and Context. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Three Pines Press.
_____. 2015. "Forget Or Not Forget? The Neurophysiology of Zuowang." In New Visions of the Zhuangzi, edited by Livia Kohn, 161-179. St. Petersburg, Fla: Three Pines Press.
Miller, James. 2017. China's Green Religion: Daoism and the Quest for a Sustainable Future. New York: Columbia University Press.
Schmachtl, Andreas H. 2015. Snöfrid aus dem Wiesental (1): Die ganz und gar unglaubliche Rettung von Nordland. Würzburg: Arena Verlag.
_____. 2016. Snöfrid aus dem Wiesental (2): Die ganz und gar abenteuerliche Reise zu den Nebelinseln. Würzburg: Arena Verlag.
_____. 2017. Snöfrid aus dem Wiesental (3): Das ganz und gar fantastische Geheimnis des Riesenbaums. Würzburg: Arena Verlag.
Xing, Wen. 2015. "Early Daoist Thought in Excavated Bamboo Slips." In Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy, edited by Xiaogan Liu. 101-26. New York: Springer.
Yang Guorong 楊國榮. 2007. Yidao guanzhi: Zhuangzi zhexue sixiang chanshi 以道觀之: 莊子哲學思想闡釋. Taipei: Shuiniu chubanshe.

Footnotes

1. There is no English version; all translations related to the book are the author's.

Share