1. Religions and Beliefs of Ancient China
Section 3

2. Ancient China
Isolated by its geography, ancient China had a unique culture.
They had important belief systems, Confucianism and Daoism, developed during the Zhou.
Each is a Philosophy, that is, a set of beliefs about the world and how to live.
Religious practices, such as the worship of certain gods, became connected to these philosophies.
Today, Daoist and Confuscian temples are found across China. Before these philospohies appeared, the Chinese followed ancient spiritual traditions.

3. Spiritual Traditions
Some ancient Chinese viewed Earth as a flat square. Heaven stretched above. Both Heaven and Earth were populated by a variety of spirits.
The ancient Chinese viewed heaven as the home of the spirits of the sun, moon, stars, and storms.
On Earth, spirits lived in hills, rivers, rocks, and seas.
The spirit ruled the daily lives of people. Good spirits made the rains fall and crops grow. They helped sailors travel safely on the ocean. They brought happiness.

4. Many Spirits
Not all spirits were kind. Harmful spirits made it unsafe to walk the roads at night.
Harmful spirits might hide in a house, bringing bad luck to all that lived there.
During festivals, people used loud sounds to fighten evil spirits away.

5. Honoring Ancestors
The most important spirits to many ancient Chinese were those of their ancestors.
They believed that family members lived on after death in the spirit world. The spirits of those ancestors remained part of the family.
Like any family member, the ancestors had to be supported and cared for. If the living took care of their ancestors, then the ancestors would protect and guide them
But the spirits of ancestors could also cause people trouble. The key to a good relationship was for the living to honor the dead.

6. Honoring Ancestors
Over the centuries, the Chinese developed many rituals to honor their ancestors. Families had shrines with tablets inscribed with ancestor’s name.
Families set out food for their ancestors on special occasions to welcome them home.
After paper money came into use, they burned fake “spirit” money to give the ancestors income in the afterlife.

7. Honoring Ancestors
Practices of honoring the spirits of the dead are known as ancestor worship. Many of these rituals related to ancestor worship are performed at holidays and funerals in China today.

8. The Teachings of Confucius
Confucianism come from the teachings of the thinker Confucius.
Confucianism is one of the most important philosophies that developed in China.
Confucius lived just before the Warring States period. The Zhou kings had already grown weak.

9. The Teachings of Confucius
He and later thinkers at the end of the Zhou dynasty looked for solutions to China’s problems.
Among these thinkers, Confucius had greatest effect on Chinese culture. He is known as the “First Teacher” and is honored for his great wisdom.

10. Life of a Philosopher
Confucius was born into a poor family in 551 B.C.E. He held several low-level jobs in government.
Officials often did not enforce the law and he noticed a lot of greed and cruelty throughout the kingdom.
Some officials took bribes, or illegal payments, to do favors for the rich.
Peasants starved while rulers taxed them to pay for wars.

11. Life of a Philosopher
Confucius believed that the cause of the disorder was that the Chinese Turned away from traditional roles and values of the early Zhou.
Confucius believed only a return to those ideas and values could bring order back to China.
Confucius made his life’s work teaching the wise ways of the ancestors.

12. Life of a Philosopher
To carry out his work, Confucius started his own school.
Students of Confucius collected his teachings in a book called Analects. In later centuries, this book became central to political and ethical thought in China across East Asia.
It is a source of great wisdom and Chinese students are still made to study and memorize it today.
Confucius never achieved great wealth or influence in his lifetime, but his students, such as Mencius, spread his ideas throughout China.

13. Five Relationships
The heart of Confucianism lay in a vision of a stable, orderly society based on five relationships:
1) Ruler and subject
2) Father and son
3) Husband and wife
4) Older and younger brothers
5) Two friends

14. Five Relationships
Especially important was the relationship between father and son, or parents and their children.
Elders care for and teach younger family members, and in return, children respect and obey their elders.
The devotion of children to their parents is called final piety. Confucius referred to the final piety as “the source of all virtues.”
The relationship between parents and children was the model for the other four relationships.

15. Five Relationships
The person of higher status in each of the five relationships, that is, the father, the husband, elder, or ruler, must fulfill the responsibilities of their role.
The person of lower status, that is, the wife, subject, or younger person, should respect the senior person.
Confucius believed order and harmony would come to society once all people acted according to their roles.

16. Beliefs of Daoism
Confucius and his students were not the only scholars affected by the chaos in China during the Zhou dynasty.
Another group of thinkers saw the disorder and responded in a different way. Their reaction led to development of Daoism.
Daoism is an ancient Chinese way of life that emphasizes a simple and natural existence.
The philosophy of following the Dao (dow), which is the natural way of the universe.

17. The Legend of Laozi
According to legend, a man named Laozi founded Daoism. Laozi (Low dzuh) is known as a sage, or wise person.
He is said to have written down his beliefs in a book called the Dao De Jing (Dow deh jing).
Historians do not know whether Laozi actually lived. They believe that the Dao De Jing was probably written by many people. It is a small book mostly made up of poems.

18. Dao De Jing “in dwelling, live close to the ground.
in thinking, keep to the simple.
in conflict, be fair and generous.
in governing, don’t try to control.”
- Laozi, Dao De Jing

19. Yin and Yang
Daoism reflects ancient Chinese beliefs about the world. The ancient Chinese saw quiet order in the changing seasons. They also saw the violence of nature through floods and storms.
They believed two great forces of nature were at work, and these forces were called yin and yang. They are opposites, yet work together.
Yin is the female force. It is dark, cool, and quiet.
Yang is a male force. It is bright, and warm, and active.
Chinese thinkers believed balance between yin and yang is key to all harmony in the universe.

20. The Dao
The Dao means “the way” or “the path”. Daoists saw the Dao as the source of yin and yang
The Dao is mysterious and impossible to define, however, Daoists felt people should try to understand the Dao.
Often, they saw evidence of the Dao in natural things like water. Water, through patient effort over time, is even stronger than rock. By acting like water, people are following the Dao.

21. The Dao
People can upset order with their actions. Order comes when people keep to a simple life, instead of competing for wealth and power.
Daoists believed a good leader took little action, leaving people to live a simple life.
Daoists were not concerned with the morals, rituals, and learning that Confucius and his followers valued.

22. The Dao
Despite the differences between Confucianism and Daoism, most Chinese thinkers studied both philosophies.
Throughout Chinese history, Confucianism and Daoism influenced Chinese culture even as new ideas came from abroad.