Tao

Focusing on Tao, this is one of a series which explores the signs and symbols of different cultures and civiliations from Ancient Egypt to the present day. Taoism was conceived by Chinese mystical philosophers of the 4th and 5th centuries BC as a way of understanding man's co-operation with the natural world. This guide celebrates its rich, ambiguous and symbolic iconography in which everything, from the interlocking Yin and Yang to the humblest plant, creature or mineral, is seen to symbolize the ebb and flow, the movement and change which is part of the larger scheme of life.