List of Contributors

Ester Bianchi holds a Ph.D. in Indian and East-Asian Civilization from the University of Venice (joint Ph.D. received from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Religieuses of Paris). She is currently Associate Professor of Chinese Religions and Philosophy and of Society and Culture of China and member of the research group Culture, Languages, Practices (CLIPRA) at the Philosophy Department of the University of Perugia (Italy), an external Associated Researcher of the Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités CNRS-EPHE, and Research Fellow of the Wutai International Institute of Buddhism and East Asian Cultures. Her studies focus on the religions of China, particularly Buddhism, in imperial and modern time; her research is centered on SinoTibetan Buddhism, Chinese Buddhist monasticism, the revival of Buddhist monastic discipline and, more recently, the spread of the Theravāda Buddhist model in modern Chinese Buddhism.