Ancient+China+By++Grace

=** Ancient Chinese Religion **=

=
China worshipped a lot of different gods such as weather gods and sky gods, also a higher god who ruled over all of the other gods he was called Shang-Ti. They believed that when their ancestors died they became like gods. They thought that their ancestors wanted to be worshipped too, like gods. Each family worshipped their own ancestors. ======

=
In about 1100 B.C the Chinese were also worshipping a natural force called t’ien which we know as heaven. Like Shang-Ti heaven ruled over all the other gods. Heaven decided who would be the Emperor or Empress of China. They could only rule if they had a Mandate of heaven (if heaven wanted them to rule). When the Emperor or Empress lost the Mandate they were overthrown by someone else who would become the new Emperor or Empress, they also had to have a mandate. ======

=
He may be a mythical, but he created the philosophy of Taoism. Taoism means that people should not try and get their way by force, but through compromise and using natural forces in their favor. Confucius Not long after that he and another scholar named Confucius created a different philosophical system we call Confucianism which disagreed with Taoism but become very popular. Confucianism means that people should do their duty and follow their leaders and the gods faithfully. If everyone just does what they are supposed to do, there won’t be any fighting and nobody will be upset. He said that the way to happiness was for everyone to treat all other people as well as they treated their families Legalism. This believed that people were all basically bad, and needed to be kept in line by strict laws and harsh punishments in order to create order and peace. ======

=
The Ch'in dynasty is the dynasty which gave China its name. He soon became the emporor of all China in 221 B.C. He didn't trust any other king so he wouldn't let them run anything. Instead, he chose his own assistants and sent them out as governors and judges for each part of his empire. ======

=
Scholars working for the emperors tried to find a way to combine Taoism and Confucianism. They believed that everyone should follow the Taoism, and help people to be good by rewarding them with good deeds. Han dynasty didn't really change much from the system that Ch'in had set up. ======

=
Around 500 A.D Buddhism came to China from India. Buddhism started in India and that’s where the Buddha lived. There were Buddhists in China even during the Han Dynasty starting in about 50 A.D, but there got to be more of them under the three kingdoms ======