A great piece in Sunday's NYT Magazine on contemoprary religious Taoism in China.  It covers a lot of ground, mentions the inter-relationship of relgious and philsophical Taoism, and provides several examples of the reinvention of Taoist tradition.  But one thing that especially caught my eye was the description of Zhu Tieyu, a prosperous businessman in Zhengzhou:

Once he started to pattern his life on Taoism, he says, he began to rise quickly in the business world. He says that by following his instincts and not forcing things — by knowing how to be patient and bide his time — he was able to excel. Besides Phoenix City, he now owns large tracts of land where he is developing office towers and apartment blocks. Although he is reticent to discuss his wealth or business operations, local news media say his company is worth more than $100 million and have crowned him “the king of building materials.” Articles almost invariably emphasize another aspect of Zhu: his eccentric behavior.

Since I am reading Zhuangzi with my students this week, I see in this passage an example of the utility of uselessness.  "Following his instincts and not forcing things," just letting opportunities present themselves and then moving as circumstances allow; not developing a systematic plan or defining too specific a goal; perhaps appearing to be a bit useless in not getting out in front of events – aall rather specific and concrete advice, for just about life course, from a Taoist perspective….  As Zhuangzi says:

Everyone knows that to be useful is useful, but who knows how useful it is to be useless?

人皆知有用之用，而莫知無用之用也