Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Tao Te Ching declares that the Tao which can be told is not eternal Tao, establishing a paradox that has defined the tradition for over two millennia. This enigmatic force serves as the underlying cosmic power that creates the universe and supports all culture. It is an organic order and infinite natural pattern that is both the beginning of all things and the way in which all things pursue their course.
Zhuang Zhou lived between 370 and 290 BCE and stands as the most influential of the Taoist hermits. He insisted that he and his followers were the heirs of ancient traditions and preferred to live a life of solitary simplicity like a turtle who prefers to live in the mud rather than to be displayed at court. His teachings emphasize the uncarved log or pu as the original nature prior to the imprint of culture.
External alchemy is a tradition that sought to create elixirs using toxic substances like cinnabar, lead, mercury, and realgar to achieve physical longevity. This practice, known as Taiqing or Great Clarity, was a tradition of external alchemy that sought immortality through the concoction of elixirs, often using toxic substances that could prove fatal to the unwary. The belief in immortality was not merely a desire for long life but a spiritual transcendence to become a xian, an immortal being with vast supernatural powers.
The 6th century CE marked a pivotal moment when Taoists attempted to unify the various traditions into one integrated Taoism that could compete with Buddhism and Confucianism. This period saw the rise of the Shangqing and Lingbao schools, which introduced new scriptures and practices that integrated aspects of Buddhist cosmology, worldview, scriptures, and practices. The scholar Lu Xiujing lived from 406 to 477 and developed the schema known as the three caverns to arrange the Taoist scriptures and deities.
Emperor Xuanzong reigned from 712 to 755 and was a devoted Taoist who wrote various Taoist works and had frequent meetings with senior masters, ritual specialists, Taoist poets, and official patriarchs. He reorganized imperial rituals based on Taoist forms, sponsored Taoist shrines and monasteries, and introduced a separate examination system based on Taoism. The court Taoist and writer Du Guangting lived from 850 to 933 and reorganized and edited the Daozang after a period of war and loss.
During the Cultural Revolution which lasted from 1966 to 1976, many Taoist priests were laicized and sent to work camps and many Taoist sites and temples were destroyed or converted to secular use. This period saw an exodus of Taoists out of China who immigrated to Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and to Europe and North America making Taoism a world religion by disseminating Taoists throughout the world. Today Taoism is one of five official recognized religions in the People's Republic of China and is practiced much more freely in Taiwan and Hong Kong.