Also of interest is this book by one of the principal consultants on the Dongtan Eco-city, Herbert Giradet

The ancient philosophy of Daoism is a profoundly relevant way of understanding the world and human life within it. Its first major written work dates from around 550BC but its origins lie in the indigenous culture of pre-historic China at least two thousand years before that. This page serves to enhance an article written in the December 2005 issue of Resurgence magazine.

The Dongtan eco-city - British construction and design consultants Arup have been commissioned by the Chinese Government to produce a series of Eco-cities.

China - The Price of Growth - feature article by Jasper Becker in March 2004 issue of National Geographic

Professor Sir Peter Hall - the world's foremost academic on urban planning, President of the TCPA, former Director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Development at the University of California, Berkeley, and current Professor of Planning and Regeneration at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at the University College London.

The Three Emperors - A major exhibition of Chinese art and culture at London's Royal Academy in 2005. The second of the three emperors was a serious scholar of Daoism and tragically died at a young age by experimenting with elixirs thought to grant longevity. Seeking the Daoist goal of long life saw the Yongzheng emperor unwittingly poisoning himself with mercury. This event may well have been the start of Daoism's decline in China.
(incidentally, at around the same time in Europe, Francis Bacon, the creator of 'experimental reason' and thereby the father of modern, Western science, similarly met his end though a passion for experimentation. Trying to establish whether meat could be preserved by being kept cold, Bacon caught influenza and died after working outside in the snow. This event marks the beginning of refrigeration, and a tragic martyrdom for science.)

Daoist culture has spread around the world from longstanding Chinese communities in places like Singapore, to more recent communities in places like Auckland, New Zealand.

asserting and yielding are the opposing but inseperable forces at the heart of Daoist thought. This sculpture illustrates how yang and yin swap places when they reach their limits. It also shows the arts of wu-shu, which are central aspects of Daoist culture, combining self-defence with health arts that protect the inner self.

Jun Fan - the actor, martial artist and philosophy graduate more widely known as Bruce Lee, is a historically significant proponent of Daoism, using the mass media of cinema to bring Daoist arts to an international audience. Between the fistfights, the films of Bruce Lee, contain dialogue rich in Daoist wisdom. In his first movie, The Big Boss, before taking on the villain, Bruce smashes his bird cage. Beyond mere dramatic effect this is a sign of the Daoist commitment to not trap birds or animals for entertainment. The style of wushu he developed known as Jun Fan Kung Fu combines classical Chinese wing chun with Western boxing styles, Western ballroom dancing and kali from the Philippines, and later developed into the art of Jeet Kune Do. His many books, including the Dao of Jeet Kune Do, are useful for understanding Daoist physical philosophy, though only in combination with actual training. The Hollywood movie Dragon: The Bruce Lee story is a good introduction that shows how he sought to champion not just the ancient and venerable culture and traditions of China but also Western values of racial equality, freedom and progress.

The Needham Research Institute at Cambridge University - Western understanding of Chinese science and technology was pioneered by Joseph Needham, and continued today at the Needham Research Institute at Cambridge University.

Gaia Theory - Basic introduction on the development of the new paradigm of Western Science, including Earth systems science or the Gaia Theory.

The China Council for International Co-operation on Environment and Development - a leading initiative for knowledge sharing between East and West.

The China-US Centre for Sustainable Development is Bill McDonnagh's partner organisation in the Huangbaiyu Eco-village project.

The author would like to thank the following people for making this article possible.
Alex Boyd, Deputy Principal at The College of Chinese Physical Culture - dedicated to preserving and developing the Lee Style of wushu introduced to the UK in the 1930s by Chan Kam Lee.

Ralph Rogers at Dekai ltd a Chinese language and business consultancy.

and Professor Sir Peter Hall

WATCH DAOISM VIDEO
The Chinese symbol for energy is the same as that for steam. This short film is based on a well-known quote from the Daoist philosopher Lao Tzu / Laozi and shows how the eternal ebb and flow of yin and yang in the cosmos can be experienced in something as humble as a simple cup of coffee.

VIEW - The Tao of Coffee - 6MB Quicktime movie