Folk Religion Shang Dynasty

China is a very influential world power and has been for many years. The Classical and Post-Classical years in China were a time of achievement and advancement, especially in the religious movement. Post-Classical and Classical China were very important historical periods, and their religions, and the effect of them on the world around them highlighted that importance.

Whats effects does religion have on culture? Why are they connected? Over time, humans have stopped hunting and gather to survive. Instead they have created civilizations as it is more effective. Religion and culture are connected because religion is the basis for civilization and culture. The Han Dynasty is structured with many different social classes, emperors being at the top. Confucianism played a big role on the social structure. Thus, the cultural setting of the dynasty was well documented. For example the many cultural achievements are known to us because they were written down.

The Vedic Age and the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties set the ground work for some of the prevailing spiritual principals of their societies. On the surface, these beliefs appear to be different, but a closer look may uncover some similar experiences and commonalities.

• From evidence of Erlitou (early Shang) civilization (pottery, bronze vessels, etc.), archeologists infer a great deal of occupational differentiation

Each consisted of two sections—an elevated citadel, or fortress, and a lower residential area.The Shang may simply be one of several early Chinese civilizations. But it is China’s first historical state. That is, the Shang were the first to record their dynasty’s history using a formal writing

The region of China is extensive and profound. “In China lay people did not belong to an institutionalized sect, nor did their religious life have anything to do with signing articles of faint. Religion in China was so woven into the broad fabric of family and social life that there was not even a special word for it until modern times, when one was coined to match the Western term” (Thompson, 1). In China, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all blended. In the earliest period, Shang Dynasty (2000 BC), people in China had worshipped a lot of different gods (polytheism) such as weather god, river god. People in the Shang Dynasty believed that their ancestors become like gods after they died, so people worshipped their

The main Chinese religions have many key features. The main religions include shamanism/ancestor reverence, Confucianism, Daoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and idol worship. These 5 religions share some features in common. For example, Chinese popular religion focuses on the human being’s pursuit of health, wealth, and happiness in their lives (quote the textbook). Chinese popular religions want the human to be doing well and succeeding in their day-to-day activities of their lives. Another key component of the main Chinese religions is respecting one’s elders. The religions teach the importance of obeying the commands of the elders and honoring the family name. The Chinese allow place a strong emphasis on the temple. The temple is a place where the people could communicate, understand, and learn about their gods (quote the textbook). The next subsections will be describing the key religious practices of each of the 5 Chinese religions.

The Shang oracle bone inscriptions are the oldest discovered paleographic records that remain from China and have been discovered in Anyang, Henan Province, the last site of the Shang capital dating from 1200 BC until 1045 BC, the fall of the dynasty. They also have to illuminated details of everyday life of the time including highlighting various religious, political

The people who lived under the Shang Dynasty strongly believed that whenever their ancestors died, they became similar to gods, and deserved to be worshipped as if they too were gods. Each family in the Shang Dynasty would not only worship the gods, but would also worship their own ancestors. Along with ancestor worship, during the late Shang Dynasty, people in ancient China also began to use written oracle bones to try to predict the future and also to communicate with the gods.

Art that was connected to the afterlife typically was symbolic of objects needed for use after death and these were limited to the very wealthy. Although sometimes included on a grand scale, such objects spoke less about the beliefs of the afterlife and more about what was important to each individual before death. Additionally, the most common death-related art focused not on burial or the afterlife, but instead on the practice of the living honoring their ancestors. This lack of evidence linking the afterlife to the art of ancient China supports the thesis of this essay. There was, in fact, even less evidence of a correlation between the two than expected. In fact, art in ancient Chinese culture, even the art related to deceased relatives,

Foreign religions had a great impact during the Qing dynasty as they influenced a vast amount of regions in China. The religions inflicted internal conflicts within China, causing people to dislike the Qing government. However, when Sun Yat-sen established a republic in China, he resolved many of the conflicts that the Qing governments have developed between them and Chinese citizens.

According to Shang Religion (n.d.), the Shang’s religion is described as a mixture of animism which is defined as “the belief that spirits inhabit some or all classes of natural objects and that an immaterial force animates the universe believe that spirits inhabit” the next is shamanism which is described as “a person who is seen to have access and influential in the world of spirits and practices divination and healing” and lastly divination which is the practice of pursuing wisdom of the future or the unknown by supernatural means. The people of Shang civilization believed that they should consult ancestors through oracle bones for support for any important choices. Similar to Egyptian culture, the Shang also had a social pyramid starting at the bottom with farmers then merchants, followed by priest’s then military nobility and finally the king could be found on the top but

A man named Wang Yirong was ill and was prescribed “dragon bones,” or oracle bones and noticed carvings similar to bronze objects of the Shang Dynasty (1300-1100 B.C.). These early written documents were found near the capital of the Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty (1700-1100 B.C.) was the period when civilization began and superior technology developed. For example, bronze casting and pottery were developed in this period of time. During the Shang Dynasty there were two social classes: the warriors and peasants. Peasants followed

Shang-Ti also regulated human affairs as well as ruling over the material universe. This dual function would, in the Chou dynasty, be attributed to a more abstract figure, "t'ien," or "Heaven." The Shang also believed that their ancestors dwelled in heaven after their death and continued to show an interest in their familiy and descendants. The obligations within the family included, therefore, the ancestors. Failing in one's duties to the ancestors could bring all sorts of disaster on a family. All of these divine and semi-divine figures, from Shang-Ti to a family's ancestors, were sacrificed to. However, we know little of the nature or the frequency of these sacrifices. We do know, however, that in the Chou dynasty only the king could sacrifice to Shang-Ti; it is highly likely that Shang-Ti was the "local god" of the Shang kings who was subsequently elevated in order to elevate the Shang themselves. The one disturbing fact of Shang sacrifice is that it certainly involved humans; slaves and prisoners of war were often sacrificed by the hundreds when a king died. Lesser numbers were sacrificed at the founding of a palace or temple. F. Major reasons for decline and fall: 2. Chou: dynasty (1122-221 B.C.) that ruled ancient china from almost a thousand years establishing a distinctive political and cultural characteristics which would be identified with China for the next 2,000 years. A. Reason's for Rise: B. Territorial Location & size

To begin, Egypt and China had different natural resources, so they developed different cultures and religions. For example, Egypt had access to papyrus which is a reed which can be used to produce to make paperlike things for writing. With plentiful supplies of papyrus, Egyptians were able to use hieroglyphics, which were picture symbols that represented words, and to develop a cursive symbol-form of writing. Egyptians used writing for recordkeeping, poetry, religious hymns, instruction manuals, and stories. However, in China, they had access to cattle and turtles; they used oracle bones, the shoulder bones of cattle and the bottom shells of turtles, to inscribe symbols into. In the Shang writing system, they had several hundred characters which signified a one-syllable word for an object or idea. The Chinese wrote about the king, and other parts of the Shang society. The Chinese and Egyptians developed different writing systems because Egypt had access to papyrus whereas China had supplies of animal bones. Furthermore, the Chinese also used the oracle bones for religion. Interpreters “read” the cracks in the bones which were answers given to the people from their ancestors. Then, these answers were inscribed into the oracle bones. Since the Chinese had access to these oracle bones, their religion mainly centered around divination, which is communicating with ancestors and ancient spirits. In