Wonderism is a term coined by French sinologist Terrien de Lacouperie (1845-1894) to differentiate the proto-Daoism of Jixia Academy from the philosophical Daoism of Laozi

Laozi

Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...

.

Lacouperie believed that Chinese civilization was influenced by early sea traders from the Erythraean Sea

Erythraean Sea

The Erythraean Sea is one of the names found in ancient cartography. This name may have derived from the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water's surface, as the Greek "Ερυθρά" actually means "red".In the third century, Flavius Philostratus made this comment:...

 and Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 who established a settlement in East China

East China

East China is a geographical and a loosely-defined cultural region that covers the eastern coastal area of China.Although an intangible and loosely defined concept, for administrative and governmental purposes, the region is defined by the government of the People's Republic of China to include...

 circa 675 BCE. It was located in the Zhou Dynasty

Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...

 state of Qi 齊 (present day Shandong

Shandong

' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...

 Province) at Langye 琅琊 (near Linyi

Linyi

Linyi is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The largest prefecture-level city in Shandong both by area and total population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to the north, Tai'an to the northwest, Jining to the...

) and Jimo

Jimo, Shandong

Jimo is a county-level city in Shandong province, China, located north of Qingdao.-Location:Jimo is located in the southwest of the Shandong Peninsula, bordered by the Yellow Sea on the east and Mount Lao on the south.-Climate:...

 即墨 (northeast and southwest of Jiaozhou Bay

Jiaozhou Bay

The Jiaozhou Bay is a sea gulf located in Qingdao Prefecture of Shandong Province. It was a German colonial concession from 1898 until 1914....

). In the history of Ancient Chinese coinage, Jimo was an important mint where large bronze knife money

Knife money

Knife money is the name of large, cast, bronze, knife-shaped coins produced by various governments and kingdoms in what is now known as China, approximately 2500 years ago. They had holes on the end to be easily strapped onto belts or rings. Known as jin cuo dao in Chinese, knife money circulated...

 called "Qi knives" were manufactured.

These foreigners, Sabaeans, Syrians and Hindus introduced new notions, such as astrology and superstitions, and by their sailors' yarns awakened a curiosity for the wonderful. The social and political condition of the country was favourable to a movement of this sort. The Chinese princes were anxious of novelty to show their independence from the once respected and now disregarded suzerainty of the Kings of Chou. It was really an age of wonderism.

According to Lacouperie, this school of thought combined with early philosophical Daoism to create religious Daoism.

The school of Wonderism, which had grown out of the influence of the trader-colonists of the Indian Ocean settled at Lang-ya and Tsih-Moh who had taught Astrology and an overrated conception of the transforming powers of nature, amalgamated with the pure Taoism of Lao-tze, and formed henceforth what may be called the Neo-Taoism or Tao-szeism, while Confucianism remained in opposition to it, such as his founder had conceived it against the encroachments of Wonderism, Taoism, and Shamanism. It was indeed the rising of Confucianism which led to the fusion of these various elements.

This terminology is outmoded. "Taoszeism" (from the French romanization

Romanization of Chinese

The romanization of Mandarin Chinese is the use of the Latin alphabet to write Chinese. Because Chinese is a tonal language with a logographic script, its characters do not represent phonemes directly. There have been many systems of romanization throughout history...

 tao-sze for daoshi 道士 "Daoist master, Daoist priest/priestess") was used by Léon de Rosny in reference to religious Daoism. "Neotaoism" or "Neodaoism" usually refers to Xuanxue

Xuanxue

Xuanxue , Neo-Taoism, or Neo-Daoism is the focal school of thought in Chinese philosophy from the third to sixth century CE. Xuanxue philosophers combined elements of Confucianism and Taoism to reinterpret the Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi.The name compounds xuan 玄 "black, dark; mysterious,...

玄學 (lit. "arcane studies").