Beginning of Chinese Civilization
Among the world’s ancient civilizations Chinese is perhaps the only one that has not experienced any major cultural disruptions. Hence, it is known as the world’s oldest continuous civilizations. The civilization is considered to be more than 5000 years old, and has been passed down without a break despite the many changes in the governments. The beginning of the Chinese civilization is considered to be during the Neolithic age i.e. 7000-1700 BC, and the Yellow Emperor is considered to be the Chinese ancestor (Fu, Chay, Han, 2003, pp. 6).
Early China is also the home of many of the ancient humans. This fact was however not known until 1921, when positive evidence regarding this fact was found by Swedish Geologist J Gunnar Anderson and eventually corroborated by Dr. Pei Wenzhong (Sullivan, 1999, pp. 2). Some of the examples of discoveries are the Yuanmou Man dating 1.7 million years ago, the Lantinian Man dating 700,000 years ago, the Peking Man dating 500,000 years ago, and the Upper Cave Man dating 18,000 years ago. This clearly shows that the civilization and culture developed at a very ancient time in China (Fu, Chay, Han, 2003, pp. 6). In addition to the fossils, many pottery pieces have also been discovered. These intricate pieces of painter pottery are one of the most revered and ancient cultural artifacts found anywhere. Before the excavations and research in 1920s, however, any stories of civilizations coupled with ruling dynasties earlier than this period were usually dismissed as mythic for the lack of archaeological confirmation (Sullivan, 1999, pp. 2).
While the evidence of existence of ancient man has been found, there is very little information about the culture and civilization itself till about 5000 BC. Based on the archaeological evidence of the Chinese cultural traditions can be traced to ~4000 BC with the earliest known Neolithic cites being Pan Po Tsun. The earliest settlements were in the river basins where there was fertile soil and plentiful moisture. Both the Yellow River and the Yangtze River basins are regarded as the origin of the ancient Chinese civilization. The vast uplands in Qinghai, Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces in China are together known as the Loess Plateau, which is considered to be the cradle land of the ancient Chinese civilization. There have been multiple sites, revealed at the time of excavations, which show people living in villages, with farming as the main profession, as early as second millennium BC (Wallach, 2005, pp. 64).
Mythology in Ancient China
While written Chinese mythology is said to have begun in the 12th century BC, the stories themselves were passed down orally through many generation prior to this time. Chinese myths are however not complete stories, as the myths in Shan Hai Jing are very short and rarely exceed a paragraph. These mythical stories are usually interlinked with history, which is why they are considered to be important in understanding the culture. One of the earliest records of Chinese mythology is Shan Hai Jing, which literally means the tales from the mountains and seas. The book describes the ancient Chinese religion, history, geography, medicines and customs. Numerous people supposedly wrote Shan Hai Jing, from the Warring States Period to the beginning of the Han dynasty (Brown, Brown, 2006, pp.86).
One important facet of these stories is that they also represent the different periods of the pre-historical human society in China. Most of these legends mention the August Ones and Five Emperors, who ruled China from 2850 BC to 2205 BC before the mythical Xia dynasty. The legendary Three August Ones: Fu Xi, Shennong, and Suiren are both, historical figures and important characters in these historical stories. Many generations of Chinese have worshipped these legendary chiefs as gods of medicine and offered them sacrifices in hope that they would bless them with good health. Fu Xi is said to have developed the pastoral farming, and is also supposed to have taught people about how to fish and hunt. Fu Xi, hence, is considered to represent the fishing and hunting period in the Chinese civilization.
The second August one, Shennong is said to have developed agriculture. He is also known as Yandi and supposedly invented farming tools, taught men how to grow grains, distinguished between various herbs and also made pottery articles. Shennong is considered to represent the period of agricultural cultivation in the Chinese civilization. The third August one, Suiren is said to have discovered fire. He supposedly taught men to get fire through drilling wood, and after this, men supposedly started cooking food to eat. He is considered to represent the oldest invention known to mankind i.e. fire (Fu, Chay, Han, 2003, pp. 7).
In addition to the three August ones, the Five Emperors or Lords are said to be the rulers who built states in China for the first time. These Emperors were: Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Di Ku, Yao and Sun. Hugandi is also known as the Yellow Emperor, and is considered as the Chinese ancestor from which present day Chinese have descended. Under his leadership the people’s standard of living is said to have improved considerably, and he supposedly invented many things such as carts, boats, houses, and calendar. His wife Leizu is credited with rearing silk worms for the first time to make clothes, and his subordinate Cangjie suposedly created the Chinese characters. Yandi and Huangdi, were the leaders of two major tribes, and are considered to be the founders of the Chinese nation. Hence Chinese many times refer to themselves as the descendents of Yan and Huang. Zhuanxu was the grandson of Huangdi and was considered to be good in utilizing the talents and maintaining social order. Di Ku was yet another grandson of Huangdi who won popular trust with his benevolent administration. Yao was the son of Di Ku, who abdicated his throne to Shun instead of his son Dhanzu, initiating the system of determining successors by talent and virtue. Shun, was the successor of Yao, who was known for his filial piety and sagacity (Fu, Yang, 2006, pp. 7, 8).
Ancient Chinese Monarchy
As is mentioned in the earlier section, the period around 8000 BC and earlier is still hazy with regards to the culture in that era. The earliest known Chinese monarchy was that in the Yangshao culture which dates from 5150 BC to 2960 BC and the Ta-wen K’ou culture from 4746 BC to 3655 BC. Archeological evidence points towards at least four other contemporary cultures existing in different parts of China, during this period. These cultures consisted of multiple tribes each with a clan head. This is followed by the earliest formal dynasty known as Hsia dynasty dating 2207 BC to 1766 BC, though there is little evidence for unveiling this dynasty. Hsia dynasty was followed by the age of the Shang dynasty from 1523 BC to 1027 BC, which is considered by many archaeologists as the beginning of the Chinese civilization. Shang dynasty also followed certain religious practices and beliefs that form the basis of Chinese civilization and the beginning of religion.
In fact Taoism has many elements that were a direct reference to the Shang dynasty. Shang dynasty was followed by the Zhou dynasty rule from 1027 BC to 221 BC, the Han from 202 BC to 220 AD, the brutal but brief Qin dynasty from 221 BC to 207 BC, the Tang dynasty from 618 AD to 907 AD and then the later day dynasties. Emperor Qin Shihuang of the Qin dynasty is considered to be the first Chinese emperor who was responsible or unifying the warlords and unifying the whole of China, except the area of Yunnan, which was added later by the Han dynasty (Wallach, 2005, pp. 64). A mention of the various dynasties in the previous section is essential because each of these contributed to the development of organized religion in China in some or the other way. The following section will describe the growth of religion in ancient China.
Origins of Ancient Chinese Religion
The early inhabitants in China were mainly engaged in agriculture, and lived in small villages with one family or clan in each village. Hence, their religion was closely connected with nature. According to them the world was full of spirits of rain and cloud and thunder or rivers and mountains, trees, crops and of the dead. There were five household “shen” or spirits for the inner doors, outer doors, well, hearth and the inner court. Sacrifices were made to these gods. A few of these gods survive even to the present day in some villages. The most ancient of all these cults was that of the “shё”, a mound representing the Earth, in the centre of the village with a grove of trees around or on it. The Earth was regarded as the source of life from where the abundance of crops and fertility of women, which were both closely related. Due to this reason, the grain was stored near the marital bedchamber, and betrothal and marriage took lace in relation to the spring and autumn festivals.
In the ancient China, the corpses were deposited near the dwelling place during decomposition, thus fertilizing the family soil. Also each new member of the family was regarded as a reincarnation, not of any special ancestor, but as the actual substance of all the ancestors. From these agricultural communities came two of the basic ideas i.e. “li” which means ritual property and “ho” which means social harmony (Hughes, Hughes, 2005, pp. 15). People from this period also followed the sacrificial ritual. Sacrificial offering were usually animals such as sheep, oxen, pigs, and some birds. Some types of grain and liquids were also considered as sacrificial offerings. These offerings were usually burnt and the liquid was poured out. Human sacrifices were performed very rarely, and were mostly disapproved of. Like people of Egypt, there was a practice of providing provisions for the comfort of the dead by burying various things with them that were considered to be necessary. Many times human beings were also buried with the dead (Ayscough¸ 1970, pp. 233).
The ancient Chinese religion, with its seasonal festivals, folk dances and songs, is different from the animism of the different races. This is because, a Chinese man is not seen as a separate individual in a community composed of different families, but id rather seen as a member or representative of his family which includes all the living members of the clan and extends backwards to his ancestors and onwards to his descendants. Hence, in the pre-Confucian period, the worship of ancestors seemed to take a very important place in the duties of the heads of clans. There was also the practice of offering sacrifices to each member of the ancestral hierarchy on a special day, and they had posthumous names according to the day of a week, which consisted of ten days and their relationship with the living descendant who was making the sacrifice.
The sacrifices were generally made to the male ancestors in the direct lines, though there are a couple of queens who were worshiped along with their husbands. The sacrificial duty was also done mostly by men, though there were isolated cases of women praying to the female ancestors for their children. Women were in fact regarded to be of importance only if they had produced male heirs, and polygamy and keeping concubines were considered allowable if this did not happen. The entire practice had a very deep impact in the Chinese culture in terms of treatment and position of women (Gernet, 1996, pp. 10).
Ancient Chinese Religion in the Shang Era
As is mentioned in one of the sections above, Shang dynasty is considered to be the dawn of Chinese history and civilization. The dynasty began when the last of the kings of Hsia, who was a tyrant, was overthrown by one of his vassals, the Prince of Shang. The dynasty was later known as the Yin dynasty. While there were religious practices prior to the Shang dynasty, the concrete evidence of the same is found in the relics from the Shang era. The religious beliefs consisted of a belief in ancestors, divination, and a well-developed sacrificial ritual. The divination was focused around the king and the court diviners, and was an important part of the religious cult. The practice preceded the Shang dynasty, and was continued till many generations ahead.
The decisions of gods were relayed by the priests by reading the under-shells of the tortoises, turtles and shoulder-blades of animals. The records of these divine messages and many times the interpretations by the King were meticulously recorded and preserved by the priests. The results of the divination were always favorable towards the king, who was right no matter what the message may be. The early Shang divination was concerned with disease, the harvest, dreams and hostile attack. However, by the late Shang times, divination came to be concerned mainly with the statements of the ritual sacrifices to be performed, and any negative statements were discarded as being wrong or unimportant. Hence, as the Shang dynasty progressed, the divination inscriptions became less elaborate, more formalized, and were filled with auspicious connect, and any inauspicious content was either neglected or even removed (Brown, Brown, 2006, pp.86).
The inscriptions on the thousands of oracle bones and tortoise shells that have been discovered yielded about five thousand characters, but only about one and a half thousand of this could be deciphered. This is considered to be the beginning of writing for China and East Asia. The concept of a “supreme divine being” also originated during this time. The “supreme being” was known as Ti/Di, Lord or Shang-ti / Shang-di, Lord on high. All the ancestors were known as Ti/Di, but Shang-ti / Shang-di became the supreme Ti/Di. He was believed by the Shang to be their founder ancestor, the first and primeval ancestor spirit of the Shang aristocracy. While Shang-ti / Shang-di, was the supreme god, he was not directly consulted through divination or ritual.
Instead of this intermediary spirits and lesser deities were summoned by the King to act as intermediaries. Shang-ti / Shang-di ruled over all other ancestor spirits, as well as a host of other deities of the natural world. He had the power to grant favor, but could also bring disease. The Zhou conquerors who followed the Shang dynasty, even claimed that Shang-ti / Shang-di controlled nature i.e. the wind, rain, thunder and drought, and the king was sufficiently linked to him to be dethroned should he not rule well (Fowler, 2005, pp. 18).
However, despite the central role of Shang-ti / Shang-di and religion in the Shang era, the ancestral gods were only vaguely depicted and did not have specific idols. As the ancestors became more remote in time, they blended in with a mass of others and lost any individual identity. In addition to the ancestral gods, there were many nature deities, gods of the sun and moon, rain, wind, lakes and clouds. There also existed earthly gods such as those of rivers, mountains, soil and grain. The earth gods were parochial i.e. a deity for the ground was inhabited by each different group of people. An interesting point here is that ancient Chinese did not feminize their earth deities; they were all male despite the emphasis on agriculture and fertility. While female deities were not entirely absent, they were not featured very widely. Such a concept is indicative of the patriarchal and hierarchical life of the ancient Chinese, which dominated the societal interchange and thought at very radical levels, and can be seen to be followed even to this date (Fowler, 2005, pp. 19).
Unlike many of the deities of other ancient civilizations, ancient Chinese religion lacked the development of a rich mythical pantheon of deities because their role was much more pragmatic. For instance, each household had a number of gods of its own, major earth god, gods of the entrances and of the well. In addition, there were gods of the villages and the local fields. The gods were more like forces than any specific idols. While some deities were idolized in the form of half-humans and half-animals; there were too many gods for any of them to maintain a specific identity. However there was one nature deity who had managed to develop a more personal nature: The Count of the River, Ho-Po or Hebo, who presided over the Yellow river. The river was very dangerous and had claimed many lives and was frequently flooded. Despite the presence of all the gods, the family was and always remained extremely important, and in fact is still the fundamental cell of the Chinese Society (Gernet, 1996, pp. 42).
Ancient Chinese Religion in the Zhou Era
Shang dynasty was overthrown by the Zhou dynasty, which started out as a province in the rule of Shang dynasty. Zhou or Chou dynasty, as they are popularly known as, brought to the Chinese culture, strong elements of Turkish and Tibetan culture. After the conquest of the Shang, the new ruler of the Zhou dynasty died shortly, and the state ended up being ruled by the Duke of the Zhou. There were many upheavals in the political and administrative levels in the Chinese empire during this period. However, many of the Shang customs continued to be used in the Zhou dynasty. There was an increasing feudal type of system being developed in the society and this was combined with the practice of hierarchy of deities and ancestors, which had prevailed during the Shang era.
Sacrificial ceremony remained just as important as ever, and the religious ceremony remained as a public occasion undertaken by the nobility on behalf of the respective clans. For the initial Zhou rulers, Shang-ti / Shang-di remained the most powerful supreme deity who supervised the earth with the help of Ti/Di. They however regarded Ti/Di as the deceased ancestors who were once great ministers and rulers, instead of being mere ancestors. Five of the most important lords during the earlier Zhou period were the Blue Lord in the East, the White Lord in the West, the Red Lord in the South, the Dark Lord in the North, and the Yellow Lord or Huang-di/ Huangdi in the Center. However, in the later day Zhou dynasty the Shang-ti / Shang-di was replaced by T’ien / Tian i.e. Heaven, though both of the deities seem to have existed as conscious but relatively impersonal forces. T’ien / Tian demanded moral righteousness in a ruler, and a good government. The ruler was considered to be a vassal of the God to whom he owned constant allegiance. That is to say the king existed for the sake of the good government of the people and linked heaven and earth. Hence, the king was sometimes known as T’ien-tzu / Tianzi or Son of Heaven (Fowler, 2005, pp. 24).
Another god, Tsao Chun / Zaozhun or the god of the stove was well established in the later part of the Zhou era. This god remained an important deity in the Taoism throughout the following centuries. Tsao Chun / Zaozhun, was the master of destinies who kept an eye on the good an evil done by the inhabitants of the home. He kept a register of these actions and then reported them to T’ien / Tian. The length of the life of an individual was extended or reduced depending upon the report. Like the Shang era, there were numerous other deities during the Zhou era also. In addition, there were three grand deities who were worshipped in the Zhou era: T’ai-i / Taiyi or Grand Unity, T’ien-i / Tainyi or Heavenly Unity and Ti-i / Diyi or Earthly Unity. These three gods presided over an increasingly large number of hierarchical gods (Gernet, 1996, pp. 44).
The clan leader had the responsibility to conduct ceremonies for the main gods of his own clan. Since the period was infested with violent warfare, there were many appearance and disappearance of new local territorial gods. In addition astronomy and astrology also became a feature of the religious practice. It was believed that the planets exerted influence on human affairs. This era was also marked by the presence and power of sorcerers who were in fact the notorious shaman priests. Like the Shang era, Zhou era also continued to practice divinity and diviners continued to be important in the functioning of the state. However, yarrow stalks were used for divining instead of the bones or shells of animals. The process of divination became increasingly philosophical instead of religious (Ayscough¸ 1970, pp. 230).
Hence, the religious cult was seen to be far more established in the Zhou era. Ritual purity and perfection of detail were important not to offend the gods and not to bring disorder as a result. The rituals were specialized so that nobles were acting on the behalf of a large group of people but ordinary people took no part in the proceedings. The aim of the rituals was to ensure order in the world and support to the clan and not to assist individuals. Ceremonial burials however changed, and few humans and animals were buried along with their masters, though the tomb was still furnished with all the requirements of the after life.
The Earth god was the major god who expected animals and sometimes human sacrifice. Sometime girls were also sacrificed for the Count of the Yellow river. There were no lasting temples built by the rulers of the Zhou dynasty. Veneration of the ancestors however remained as it is in the Zhou era. The ritual was just as orderly and hierarchical as in the Shang era. The importance of the ancestral reverence was so much that it did not change much in the two different dynastical eras, and the process remained essentially the same for both rich and the poor. In fact the ancestral reverence is considered to be the cornerstone of the entire Chinese religion (Fowler, 2005, pp. 28). Zhou dynasty is said to have formalized the concept of religion in China, where the practices became more important in terms of accuracy, and were recorded more meticulously for the future generations to follow.
Religion Based on thought – The next stage of development of ancient Chinese religion was due to an explosion in religious thought between 600 BC and 400 BC. The multiple beliefs till that time had just been a collection of ceremonies, with no concept of a formal religion, and probably they all just needed a formal name and shape, which was brought out during this period. Compared to the earlier religious development eras this was a very short period of just 200 years, but was a major landmark in the religion and culture development in China.
During this period foundations of three major religions were laid: Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. The first two were native Chinese religions, while Buddhism was brought into China by Indian missionaries. One common factor linking these three ancient religions was that none of them actually mentioned the word religion; they mentioned teachings of different philosophers and missionaries, who had developed a way of life rather than just a religion. None of the three religions here offers any clear belief in any transcendental deity, the thoughts being central to the concept of religion. As is already seen in the earlier sections, Chinese were great believers of ancestral worship. The absence of any specific deities in these religions made it easier for the Chinese to accept the religions, still keeping the ancestor worship as the core idea (Ayscough¸ 1970, pp. 220).
All these religions still allowed Chinese thinkers to maintain their belief that there was no Creator of the cosmos and no volitional acts of creation. The religions like the ancient Chinese beliefs were centered on the nature worship, to pay homage to the relation and interaction between spiritual phenomena and the human states of affairs. Any natural calamities were considered to be due to an imbalance between the various forces of nature and occurred when the natural harmony existing in nature was disturbed (Liu, 2006, pp. 2). As can be clearly seen, each of these religions echoed the practices which people has been following for many centuries and hence were more easily inculcated between and embraced by many people. The following section will cover the beginning of these three religions, their preachers and their principles in brief.
Taoism
The philosophy of Taoism was created by a Chinese philosopher named Lao Tzu. The information concerning Lao Tzu is so less and hazy that many researchers consider him to be a mythical character. Lao Tzu is sometimes considered to be an archivist at the royal court of Zhou sovereigns, suggesting that the religion originated from the ideals behind the Zhou traditions. The beliefs of Taoism echo the ancient traditions of balance between the various elements in nature, and the respect people should accord to them suggesting that Lao Tzu gave a philosophical shape to the religious beliefs and the reasons why people should follow them. This early religion was very rapidly embraced by people, probably because it was just the same as their beliefs. In addition, some accounts also mention that he had been supposedly visited by Confucius and disliked him and his philosophies immensely, calling him as arrogant. Lao Tzu supposedly left the Zhou court and wrote the book Tao Te Ching where he gave the principles of Taoism. After that there seems to be no trace of him (Creel, 1982, pp. 102).
Taoism still remains popular in various circles around the globe. The word “Tao” represents the supreme power in the universe. Taoism holds that the individual should not attempt to get their way by force but through compromise and using natural forces. Taoists believe that there is a universal force flowing through all living things and that respecting this force is the key to a happy life. There are two kinds of Taoism: the philosophical Taoism also called “tao-chia” and the religious Taoism or “tao-chiao”. Tao-chiao is a term that originated in the Han Dynasty. Tao-chia is supposed to flourish in China around 5 BC to 4 BC. This religious form of Taoism aims at long life and immortality, though the means to attain these goals differ from one school to another. Many philosophers however feel that the religious and philosophical Taoism cannot be separated from each other. “Tao” is also many times known as the yin and yang. Another one very important principles in the religious is “Wu”, which means a state of emptiness or non-being, many times considered as the state to be achieved (Creel, 1982, pp. 103).
Confucianism
All the beliefs of Taoism were in contrast to the belief laid by Confucius, who is considered by many as one of the most influential philosophers of all times. The philosophy laid by Confucius was ethical in extreme and excelled in nihilist and hedonist attitudes concerning the relation of the human being with himself and with the world. Confucius was born around 551 BC in the state of Lu. He worked in government office and rose to a relatively high position before being forced out. He became the first private teacher in China at the age of 50, and developed a large following of disciples who wrote up his sayings after his death. The philosophies of Confucius are given in his work, “The Analects of Confucius” (Nagell, 2006, pp. 107).
As is mentioned above, Taoism and Confucianism disagreed on the very core of beliefs. Taoism believed in non-interference with the forces of nature and to let life influence a person, whereas Confucianism was based in rigid order and the belief that individuals should do their duty to follow their leaders and gods faithfully. These two beliefs echo the existing conditions of the Chinese society during that time, which was slowly changing from being accepting to being aggressive and more state oriented with set materialistic goals. The start phase may have been unwelcome by people, since it sounded too un-noble, hence the ideas of Confucius were derided first, but then wholeheartedly accepted. The philosophy however still maintained the concept of family and society, but merely changed the goals or expressed them more explicitly. The social conditions of the society are brought to fore by looking through this philosophy.
The society was essentially war-based and was feudal in nature. The only way how to exert peace and control was through submissiveness, which is the very core of Confucianism. Though considered as an ancient religion, the state-allegiance of people in China can be seen to have roots in Confucianism principles. A popular offshoot of Confucianism was Legalism which was laid down during the brutal Qin dynasty rule. The Qin ruler in his effort to unify China used the principles of Legalism according to which people are inherently bad and need to be kept in line through strict laws and harsh punishment in order to create peace and keep order (Nagell, 2006, pp. 107).
Buddhism
Buddhism is still the popular prevalent religion in China, and probably the only one which originated abroad. The religion originated in India in 5th century BC and traveled to China via the Silk route, 300 years later. The principles of Buddhism were however very close to Chinese system of beliefs, and succeeded in combining the various disjointed religions existing in China prior to that period. There are variations in Buddhism too, of which Mahayana (The Great Vehicle) Buddhism is the form associated with China and Japan. It is often referred to as Sino-Japanese Buddhism, and rejects the non-theist form of Buddhism and elevates various enlightened Buddhas to omnipresent god-like beings, creating a pantheon of compassionate, altruistic, angelic Bodhisattvas (Liu, 2006, pp. 56).
Conclusion
Officially China is an atheist, although the number of religious worshippers in China is estimated to be well over 100 million. This is because religion is considered to be mostly a way of life rather than following a strict code. The state rule, reminiscent of the Confucian principle, also has led to the state adopting a principle of atheism. However, among the people who are religious, majority follow Buddhism. Other major religions are Taoism, Islam and Christianity (Brown, Brown, 2006, pp. 39). Chinese traditional way of life is mostly is mostly influenced by practices which had been followed by people for over thousands of years. The paper gave a detailed description of the ancient religious practices in China. It can be seen that the type of religion existing in China is due to the root beliefs and societal conditions existing in China at various points in the past.
While Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are the three major religious influences in Chinese religion, these religions developed due to the thoughts of the people during the Warring States era, and beyond. One more thing which can be deduced from the paper is that the Chinese religion has the distinction of being totally disjoined and continuous. Disjointed represents the way different people and clans had different gods, and unified means that every one had the similar concepts of what can constitute as a god, though there were certain common gods too. This condition however, finally changed with the advent of Buddhism, which brought the country into a type of religious amalgamation, where the people prayed an idol figure, which was till then not present in the Chinese culture at least in a popular sense.
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