Entering the Way of Emptiness: A Historical Survey of the Zhenkongjiao in East and Southeast Asia

The Religion of Emptiness (Zhenkongjiao), also known as the Great Way Within the Emptiness (Kongzhong Dadao), is a Chinese sectarian religion that rose to prominence through its rehabilitation of opium addicts from the latter half of the nineteenth century onwards. Originally from Jiangxi, the Zhenkongjiao accompanied the en masse migration of southern Chinese communities into Southeast Asia from the early twentieth century, where it quickly established itself. This seminar will introduce the historical origins, sectarian identity, and transnational religious network of the Zhenkongjiao across East and Southeast Asia. It will also pay special attention to the movement’s social work, and intellectual transformations, with a focus on how the movement navigated and repositioned itself within postcolonial Malaysia and Singapore over time. This presentation seeks to nuance previous scholarship that historicised the Zhenkongjiao within convenient rise-and-fall narratives by demonstrating how the movement had been proactively situating itself within changing social currents and needs over the course of its history.

Esmond Chuah Meng Soh graduated from the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Bachelor of Arts (B.A., Hons.) programs at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) School of Humanities (SoH), Singapore, where he also served as a lecturer after completing his studies. His research findings were shared in various academic settings, including contributions to the Journal of Chinese Religions (2022) and Asian Ethnology (2022). Collaborating with a team of co-writers, he has also conducted research and published a bilingual volume titled The Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Singapore: Heritage, Culture, and Community (2023). Esmond is currently preparing to pursue his PhD with the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.