Lai Chi Tim is Professor in Daoist Studies at the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is now serving as the Director of the Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, and Associate Director of Institute of Chinese Studies. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Divinity School, specializing in Daoism, history of religions, and social scientific theories of religion.

He is currently working on Six Dynasties Daoism, early Heavenly Master texts, Daoist ritual tradition, and history of Daoism in Guangdong and Hong Kong. His major research projects include “Collection of Daoist Epigraphy in Guangdong: A Study of Daoism and Local Society” (RGC General Research Fund grant); “Temples, Urban Society, and Taoists, 1860-2010: The Modern Transformation of Urban Chinese Religious Organization” (CCK Foundation); and “Contemporary Development of Daoist Temples in Guangdong” (Centre for Studies of Daoist Culture, CUHK).

He is the author of Daoist Temple Inscription in Guangzhou (Beijing: Zhonghua Shu Ju, 2013); Guangdong Local Daoism: Daoist Temple, Master, and Ritual (Chinese University Press, 2007); Religious Studies and Hermeneutics (Chinese University Press, 2003); Hong Kong Daoism (co-author, 2009); History and Transmission of Daoist Temple Ritual in Hong Kong (co-author, 2007). He has also edited Conflict and Peace in Religions (2007), Daoism in Hong Kong and South China (2005), Daoist Studies and Chinese Religious Culture (2003), Interpretation of Hope in Chinese Religions and Christianity (2002), and Daoism and Popular Religions (1999). His major articles cover the Six Dynasties Daoism, Daoist ritual studies, and history of Daoism in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, published in international refereed journals.

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