Chinese Religion and Philosophical System

A number of religious and philosophical system where practiced in China. Before any philosophical system arise, the Chinese worshipped gods of nature – sky god, river god -- and they call their higher god who ruled over other gods as Shang-Ti (this was during the Shang dynasty). Later, under the Chou dynasty, they worship a natural god called T’ien usually translated as Heaven. Like Shang-Ti he is also the god of all Gods. It is during this time that people believed in mandate of heaven when choosing the next emperor or empress. They also practice ancestor worship. They believe that when their parents or grandparent die, they became like gods and they wanted to be worshipped too.

For the next two hundred years wise men introduced their philosophies, which affects the lives of Chinese people. Here are the important philosophical system introduced in China:

TAOISM - The word “Tao” means the way. It emphasize that people should not try to get their way by force, but through cooperation and using natural forces in their favor.

• Lao Tzu (may be a mythical man), who lived presumably about 500 BC, introduced Taoism.
• Chuang-tzu (4th century BC) a philosopher, author, classical teacher who interpreted Taoism different from Lao Tzu.

CONFUCIANISM – another philosophical system that disagrees with Taoism. It holds that people must do what ought to do. If they just follow their duty, their leaders and the gods faithfully, then there wont be any fighting and nobody will be upset.

• Confucius created Confucianism. He was honored as the greatest of sages throughout most of China's history.
• Mencius was second to Confucius in shaping Confucianism. His three main tenets were the basic good nature of human beings, the notion of society with a distinct distribution of functions, and the ruler's obligation to the people.

BUDDHISM– Buddhism came from India, which was founded by Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism split into two major trends during its early stage of development. The Mahayana and Hinayana. Chinese Buddhism stems from Mahayana, which contains more popular elements, such as belief in repetitive prayers, heaven and deities. It was actually present during the Han dynasty but it became popular during the period of three kingdoms.

For more information follow these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_philosophy

Chinese Dynasty

There is no clear study about the true origin of Chinese civilization. Yet, it is considered that the earliest group of Chinese where written records were found was the Shang. These records are usually an oracle written in the bones of the animals. It is also the first dynasty established in China.

Chinese believed that a new dynasty must be established according to the mandate of heaven or the right to rule. This belief was used by the Chou dynasty when it was about to replace the existing Shang dynasty. The existence of Chinese dynasties is following a cycle. These dynastic cycle starts when a new dynasty is established by a powerful leader. It is then followed by a period of prosperity, wherein the empire is able to gain much power, able restore peace and is able to give prosperous life to its people. After that, there comes a time when that certain dynasty will loose the capacity to provide its people their needs. The leader starts corrupting its people, imposing high taxes, treating them unfairly and may not be able to protect them properly. This is the indicator of the people that such dynasty had already lost the mandate of heaven and therefore, it has to fall.

Here is a timeline of Chinese Dynasties:

Ancient China	Neolithic ca. 12000 - 2000 B.C.
	Xia ca. 2100-1800 B.C.
	Shang 1700-1027 B.C.
	Western Zhou 1027-771 B.C.
	Eastern Zhou 770-221 B.C.	770-476 B.C. -- Spring and Autumn period 475-221 B.C. -- Warring States period
Early Imperial China
	Qin 221-207 B.C.
	Western Han 206 B.C.- 9 A.D.
	Hsing (Wang Mang interregnum) 9-25 A.D.
	Eastern Han 25-220 A.D.
	Three Kingdoms220-265 A.D.
	Western Chin 265-316 A.D.
	Eastern Chin 317-420 A.D.
	Southern and Northern Dynasties 420-588 A.D.	Southern Dynasties 420-478 -- Song 479-501 -- Qi 502-556 -- Liang 557-588 -- Chen
		Northern Dynasties 386-533 -- Northern Wei 534-549 -- Eastern Wei 535-557 -- Western Wei 550-577 -- Northern Qi 557-588 -- Northern Zhou
Classical Imperial China
	Sui 580-618 A.D.
	T'ang 618-907 A.D.
	Five Dynasties 907-960 A.D.	907-923 -- Later Liang 923-936 -- Later Tang 936-946 -- Later Jin 947-950 -- Later Han 951-960 -- Later Zhou
	Ten Kingdoms A.D. 907-979
	Song A.D. 960-1279	960-1125 -- Northern Song 1127-1279 -- Southern Song
	Liao A.D. 916-1125
	Western Xia A.D. 1038-1227
	Jin A.D. 1115-1234
Later Imperial China
	Yuan A.D. 1279-1368
	Ming A.D. 1368-1644
	Qing A.D. 1644-1911

Source: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/timeline.html