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Chinese traditional religion is a loosely-connected system of practices and beliefs that has been practiced by large segments of the Han Chinese population of China from the early period of Chinese continuing to the present. With the influx of Western cultural influences for several centuries and the complex developments and modernization of the 20th century, the prevalence of Chinese traditional beliefs has declined, but still remain strong, many or most gradually transforming into elements of culture and social behavior while retaining little spiritual or religious significance. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Chinese folk religion comprises the religion practiced in much of China for thousands of years which included ancestor worship and drew heavily upon concepts and beings within Chinese mythology. ... Han Chinese (Simplified Chinese: 汉族; Traditional Chinese: 漢族; pinyin: ) is a term which refers to the majority ethnic group within China and the largest single human ethnic group in the world. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

It is composed of a combination of religious practices, including ancestor worship or veneration, Buddhism and Taoism. Chinese traditional religion also retain traces of some of its ancestral Neolithic belief systems which participate in Animal worship, as well as the worship of the Sun, Moon, Earth, heavens, and various stars. The origins of the word religion have been debated for centuries. ... Ancestor worship, also ancestor veneration, is a religious practice based on the belief that ones ancestors possess supernatural powers. ... Buddhism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The Chinese character Tao [Way]. Taoism (sometimes written as Daoism) is the English name for (a) the Chinese folk religion; (b) a family of organized Chinese religious movements such as the Zhengyi (Orthodox One) or Quanzhen (Complete Reality) sects, which collectively trace back to Zhang Daoling in the late Han... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Sun (or Sol) is the star at the center of our Solar system. ... Crust composition Oxygen 43% Silicon 21% Aluminium 10% Calcium 9% Iron 9% Magnesium 5% Titanium 2% Nickel 0. ... Earth, also known as Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third-closest planet to the Sun. ... Michelangelos interpretation of Heaven Heaven is an afterlife concept found in many religions or spiritual philosophies. ... The Pleiades star cluster A star is a massive body of plasma in outer space that is currently producing or has produced energy through nuclear fusion. ...

These traditional practices are situated in the context of Chinese culture and social structures, which, like many throughout East Asia, and unlike many in the West, do not suppose an exclusive adherence to a single belief system. Instead, elements of traditional practices may be practiced by individuals who identify themselves as Buddhists or members of other traditions. This is all the more true when these traditional practices are seen as cultural elements without spiritual significance, permitting them to be retained by adherents of certain belief-systems, such as various forms of Christianity, with which the overall assumptions of Chinese traditional practice as a religion would likely have been incompatible. Beliefs Though enormous diversity exists in the beliefs of those who self-identify as Christian, it is possible to venture general statements which describe the beliefs of a large majority . ...

The system of Chinese traditional beliefs, expressed concretely in a wide range of practices, has been passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition, formal cultural activities and rituals, and some literature. Throughout the course of Chinese history, it absorbed a wide variety of influences from many different belief systems (e.g. Buddhism, Taoism, Chinese philosophy), without being challenged in its integrity. Like most popular traditions of most cultures of the world, the system of traditional beliefs generally did not go by a specific or formal name in Chinese culture, recognized only in terms of specific constituent practices or elements (e.g. New Years traditions, ancestor portraits and veneration). Likewise, no profession or confession of belief is typically required, nor any initiation practice or ritual--as most practices were integrated into the daily life of Chinese culture, all the more so given the distinct homogeneity of many rural regions of China even in the 21st century. Yin/Yang symbol and ba gua paved in a clearing outside of Nanning city, Guangxi province. ...

Western views

As the French Wikipedia observes, The French Wikipedia is a French language edition of Wikipedia, spelled Wikipédia. ...

This absence of a proper name, associated with the absence of any canonical literature, have for a long time caused it to be viewed by Westerners in the same way that the cult of the saints [veneration of saints] is viewed

that is, as a popularized version of an "authentic" religion.

Demographics

Many publications on religion in China do not include statistics on the number of adherents of traditional religion, with most adherents registered under the category of Taoist or Buddhist. However, despite the critical influence of those two belief-systems, Chinese traditional religion is not coterminous with them and, strictly speaking, marked distinctions exist. Nonetheless, such overlaps or blurring of distinctions are consistent with East Asian cultural understandings of religion and identity that do not require exclusive indentification are an adherent of solely one distinct tradition.

See also

• Chinese mythology
• religion in China
• Chinese folk religion