Then you have other levels of social organization. The aforementioned Four Families Association - which is only one of many such - has been around for almost a thousand years. When the government functioned well, they were basically a nice little civic organization. (They've adapted well to democracy - and piss them off, and you will have the letter writing campaign from hell on your ass.) When the government wasn't functioning, they'd step in and try to keep things running as best they could. And one of the things they've traditionally supported was martial arts education - which is why they helped Hong Shifu, my master, come to the country.
There are a lot of places practitioners could fit into this - and probably they'd be in more than one of them. Taoist magicians, and practitioners of folk religion are an obvious one. There was a high degree of syncretism between Taoist and Buddhist (and other) practices during the Ming Dynasty - and families of philosophically oriented practitioner-scholars would probably use what worked, I would guess. (And there's a lot of tie in with martial practice, too.) But there were also a lot of folk practitioners and demon hunters and wandering mystic-performers and folks around. (Not to mention this whole class of poor scholars and failed scholars and the other have nots from the examination system.)
It's also worth keeping in mind that the Manchus - who founded the Qing dynasty - were pretty unusual. Most non-Han groups who invaded and took over China founded a dynasty, assimilated, and were never heard from again. The Manchus both worked hard to remain ethnically (and I seem to recall ritually) distinct and enforced measures on the Han as well. So if you're looking for people in power trying to control and not trusting Chinese magic users, that would be an interesting place to look. (The Qing spent a lot of time trying to keep a lid on the monasteries, and the martial arts underworld - a lot of whom tended to hang out with the order I'm a member of, ne'er do wells as we have been - not to mention other random scholars and philosophers and popular leaders who really wanted the Manchus out.)
Okay, this is ridiculously long, even for me. Fun to reminisce about my mis-spent youth and blow of my proposal a little more, though...
no subject
Then you have other levels of social organization. The aforementioned Four Families Association - which is only one of many such - has been around for almost a thousand years. When the government functioned well, they were basically a nice little civic organization. (They've adapted well to democracy - and piss them off, and you will have the letter writing campaign from hell on your ass.) When the government wasn't functioning, they'd step in and try to keep things running as best they could. And one of the things they've traditionally supported was martial arts education - which is why they helped Hong Shifu, my master, come to the country.
There are a lot of places practitioners could fit into this - and probably they'd be in more than one of them. Taoist magicians, and practitioners of folk religion are an obvious one. There was a high degree of syncretism between Taoist and Buddhist (and other) practices during the Ming Dynasty - and families of philosophically oriented practitioner-scholars would probably use what worked, I would guess. (And there's a lot of tie in with martial practice, too.) But there were also a lot of folk practitioners and demon hunters and wandering mystic-performers and folks around. (Not to mention this whole class of poor scholars and failed scholars and the other have nots from the examination system.)
It's also worth keeping in mind that the Manchus - who founded the Qing dynasty - were pretty unusual. Most non-Han groups who invaded and took over China founded a dynasty, assimilated, and were never heard from again. The Manchus both worked hard to remain ethnically (and I seem to recall ritually) distinct and enforced measures on the Han as well. So if you're looking for people in power trying to control and not trusting Chinese magic users, that would be an interesting place to look. (The Qing spent a lot of time trying to keep a lid on the monasteries, and the martial arts underworld - a lot of whom tended to hang out with the order I'm a member of, ne'er do wells as we have been - not to mention other random scholars and philosophers and popular leaders who really wanted the Manchus out.)
Okay, this is ridiculously long, even for me. Fun to reminisce about my mis-spent youth and blow of my proposal a little more, though...