中國地方道教道壇、法壇的恢復，及其儀式傳統之再建是當代道教復興最 受矚目的焦點。地方道壇與火居道士、法師的存在，與民間宗教有著極為密切 的關係，彼此形成綿密的網絡。這些地方道壇並沒有一個中央的權力機構管 制，而官方的控管也相對鬆弛，因此各地方的火居道士、法師所展現出來的儀 式型態與宗教服務，為了要符合地方的不同需求，遂呈現出多元、豐富而具活 力的面貌。在地方研究風潮下，開始見識到各區域道教在這六十多年的歷史變 遷當中所經歷的差異性與豐富性。越多的地方研究成果呈現，可以發現各區域 所提出的理論框架無法適用在整個中國宗教。同時也發現，作為人本身在地方 社會並未獲得太大關注，在這種學術省思之下，本文回顧過去研究並試著採用 口述歷史的方法進行考察，提出不同的觀點與視角。

The greatest focus of attention in the revival of contemporary Daoism is the recovery of local Daoist and master of ritual altars, as well as the restoration of their ritual traditions. The existence of local Daoist altars, household Daoist priests, and masters of rites has an incredibly intimate relationship with popular religious traditions, which all together form a dense network. Local altars are not organized or administered by a centralized authority, and government control of them is quite lax. Consequently, the types of ritual and religious service offered by each local hearth-dwelling priest or master of rites are incredibly varied, rich, and dynamic, so that these ritual specialists can conform to the different demands of locales. In this tide of new research, we are also getting beginning to get a sense of the diversity and richness that regional Daoist traditions have encountered with the changes in the past sixty or more years. The more scholarship that emerges from this local research, the more we have come to realize that the theoretical frameworks that arise out of this work on various locales are not suitable for the entirety of Chinese religious traditions. We have also discovered that the people themselves who live in these local communities have not yet received adequate attention. As we reflect on these issues, we should try to employ more oral history methodologies.