"Daoism". The Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for the word (way, path) is spelled as tao4 in the older Wade–Giles romanization system (from which the spelling 'Taoism' is derived), while it is spelled as dào in the newer Pinyin romanization system (from which the spelling "Daoism" is derived). The Wade–Giles tao4 and the Pinyin dào are pronounced identically in Mandarin Chinese (like the unaspirated 't' in 'stop'); despite this, "Taoism" and "Daoism" are often pronounced differently in English vernacular. Categorization and terminology The word Daoism is used to translate different Chinese terms: Teachings of the Dao (; lit. "teachings of the Tao"), often interpreted as the "Daoist religion" proper, or the "liturgical" aspect of Daoism – A family of organized religious movements sharing concepts or terminology from "Daoist philosophy"; the first of these being the Celestial Masters school. Family of the Dao (; lit. "school or family of the Tao", sometimes "Daoist Philosophy") or "Taology" (; lit. "study of the Tao"), or the mystical aspect – The philosophical doctrines based on the texts of the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching () and the Zhuangzi (). The earliest recorded uses of the term Tao to refer to a philosophy or a school of thought are found in the works of classical historians during Han Dynasty. These works include The Commentary of Zhuo (左传; zuǒ zhuàn) by Zuo Qiuming (左丘明) and in the Records of the Grand Historian (史記; Shǐjì) by Sima Tan. This usage of the term to narrowly denote a school of thought precedes the emergence of the Celestial Masters and associated later religions. It is unlikely that Zhuangzi was familiar with the text of the Tao Te Ching, and Zhuangzi himself may have died before the term was in use. The use of the term Dàojiā dates back to the Han dynasty (around 100 BCE) and was used to refer to the supposed authors of texts like the Dàodéjīng and the Zhuāngzǐ. The distinction between Daoist philosophy (道家) and religion (道教) was defended by modern pioneers of Chinese philosophy like Feng Youlan (馮友蘭; 1895-1990) and Wing-tsit Chan (陳榮捷; 1901–1994). This distinction is rejected by the majority of Western and Japanese scholars however. This distinction is contested by hermeneutic (interpretive) difficulties in the categorization of the different Daoist schools, sects and movements. Regarding this distinction, Russell Kirkland writes that "most scholars who have seriously studied Taoism, both in Asia and in