[9] The strongest impetus in the social importance of the movement, however, came from Wang Fengyi (王凤仪; 1864–1937), a charismatic healer and preacher of peasant origins who led the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue in the 1930s.

[2] Shanrendao is deeply influenced by the Taizhou school of Wang Yangming's Neo-Confucianism, but the tradition synthesises the entirety of Chinese religion.

Reconciliation, gathering for ritual and storytelling (parables are taken from the Chinese tradition and the life of Master Wang) able to "turn the heart of the participants", are the primary practice of the movement.

[6]: 10–11 Wang Fengyi's doctrine holds that the human being tends to the five virtues of empathy (仁; rén), ritual and propriety (礼; lǐ), integrity and trust (信; xìn), justice and righteousness (义; yì), and wisdom (智; zhì), and to the five vices of anger (怒; nù), hatred (恨; hèn), blame (怨; yuàn), irritation and judgment (恼; nǎo), and annoyance and disdain (烦; fán).

[14] Wang Fengyi promoted an indigenous mass female learning movement which competed with the missionary schools of the Catholic Church in Manchuria.

Even the American Christian missionary Gilbert Reid became a member of the church, and Kong Decheng (1920–2008), then Confucius' first descendant in direct line, became the honorary chairman.

Wang Fengyi did not receive a high education because of poverty, and at the age of 35 he realised the Dao and became a wandering healer and preacher of traditional Confucian morality.

[21] Wang Fengyi gave a great impetus to the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue, which in the 1930s had 8 million members in northeast China (25% of the population).

[2] In mainland People's Republic of China the Universal Church of the Way and its Virtue ceased to exist as a social organisation recognised by political authorities since the Communist Revolution of 1949 until recent decades.

[7][8] Since the relaxation of antireligion policies in the 1980s the movement has resurfaced and it has grown back especially in its heartland, northeast China (Manchuria),[7] where the members preach filiality and Wang Fengyi's healing methods, mostly organised in the form of house churches.

[8] Lineages of local healers are organised in "farms", and successfully employ storytelling, lectures on virtue, personal confessions, and a set of five chanted affirmations modeled on the five elements.