A Brief History of Religious Development in China

The Three Emperors
According to legend the “Three Emperors” are credited for creating the Chinese culture. All three emperors were probably not individuals but dynasties.

Emperor Fu Hsi
The first emperor, Fu Hsi is thought to have created the beginnings of the Chinese culture and the I Ching. He established kingly rule, marriage laws, and the computation of time by inventing the calendar using a knotted cord.

Emperor Shen Nung
The second Emperor was Shen Nung, was the god of husbandry and the first farmer and founder of natural medicine.

The Yellow Emperor Huang Ti
The third Emperor is Huang Ti, “The Yellow Emperor.” He was the founder of China in the heartland of the Yellow River basin and extended the frontiers in the west to the deserts and mountains, and to the Yangtze River to the south. He is revered as the inventor of civilization and is the most famous of the culture heroes of Chinese mythology. He domesticated cattle and horses, invented the wheeled vehicle, pottery, pestles and mortars, bows and arrows, armored boats, and instituted copper coins as a form of currency. He is regarded by many Taoists and the “First Master” and was the first human to ascend to transcendency. Many believe he created Taoism some thousand years before Lao Tzu or was taught Taoism by one of many incarnations of Lao Tzu.

Around the time of the early Zhou Dynasty (1066-256 BC), China developed a fixed and ordered state system with refined religious customs. Service to the imperial ancestors moved into the foreground and the state was modeled on the family.

Taoism
Tao originated around 600 BC. According to legends, the philosopher Tao Tzu revealed the Tao a hermit in the Szechwan province named Chang Tien-shih. Taoism teaches two fundamental concepts: the first that before creation of the sun, moon, earth, stars and universe that there was a period of great chaos, and second that complementary opposites exist in everything (Yin and Yang).

From 490 BC onwards the state power rapidly weakened and there was a corresponding rise in the power of local rulers. The epoch of the “Warring States” (475-221 BC) saw power struggles and states of anarchy, and in religious terms was also a time of great turbulence. The ancient Chinese religions loss of certainty was brought about by Confucianism's attempts to renew in particular the state religion.

Confucianism
Kung Tzu known better as Confucius (552-497 BC) is the most famous of all Chinese philosopher sages and lived just before the beginning of the period known as the Warring States. Confucianism became the main philosophy of Chinese during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).

The Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) saw the rise of a strong central power once more.

Buddhism
Indian Buddhism spread slowly into China starting in the 1st century AD and gained influence during the later Han dynasty (2nd century AD). The three forms of Chinese Buddhism are: Han (1st century AD), Tibetan Buddhism (7th century AD), and Pali Buddhism (6th-7th Centuries AD).

The Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) greatly promoted Confucianism as its main cultural philosophy and in the first century AD, Buddhism advanced into China as trade and cultural ties between Chinese and Central Asia increased. The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) gave China a period of cultural glory, while the Sung Dynasty (960-1260/78) represented the pinnacle of Chinese art and science, and once more promoted Confucianism.

The Mongolian Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) promoted Buddhism.

The Ming Dynasty (1369-1644) attempted to bring mutual influences between Confucianism, and Taoism as well as Buddhism in China with the idea of attaining the humanity of Confucius through Taoist and Buddhist meditation.

The Qing dynasty, the final Chinese imperial dynasty (1644-1911) saw a time of political and religious unrest beginning in the early 19th century. The subsequent civil war and new regime sought a partial restoration of old religious ideas, but since Mao Tse-tung took power in 1946-49 and religion in general was forced into the defensive. Maoism is generally antireligious but has at times has made unusual links to some forms of Ancient Chinese thought.