Ancient religion in China

The following is another in a series of articles prepared by the Jamaica China Friendship Association.

China's unbroken recorded history of 5,000 years is very well known. This means that she is - if not the world's oldest civilisation, certainly one of - sharing this distinction with the ancient Jews of Bible times.

Since a little more than 2,000 years ago, China has been practising the indigenous religions of Daoism and Confucianism as well as the introduced Islam, and Buddhism. These were introduced into China round about 5-6 BC. These religions found fertile ground in China and became the dominant religious expressions. Christianity, on the other hand, was not very widely embraced. It is said that the people did not trust many of the missionaries who tried to Christianise them. Though the records show that many good and noble things were accomplished by many who tried to bring Christianity to China, and all over China there are to be found practising Christians. These religions presented a variety of gods and deities. There is the kitchen god, who takes care of food, Gun Yin the goddess of mercy, who is often equated with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then there is the sky god, the moon god, the sea god, and virtually one for everything under the sun, and the Chinese ended up being a very superstitious people.

What or whom did the Chinese worship?

But what or whom did the Chinese people worship during their almost 3,000 years before the various religions were introduced? What did they believe? The records clearly show that their beliefs and worship were directed to a supreme being, one singular, supreme god, known as Shang Di. He was above all, the most high, abiding in Tien, heaven. Sometimes he was referred to as Shang Tien, the god of heaven.

Shang Di had the same nature, characteristics and power as Yahweh, or Jehovah of the Jews.

They believed he was the creator of the universe, and in Chinese ancient historical documents, the creation story is recorded, identical to the account in Genesis. How out of the chaos and the void and darkness God created the world, gave it light, and after creating plants and animals etc, with reproductive capacities, he created man.

Also recorded are the stories of the flood, and the Babel story, which they regarded as the gift of language to earth's people, and was responsible for the dispersal of various races over the world.

Significantly, in a document 'Wen Yen Wen', attributed to a Shang Dynasty scholar, he makes the concept of the supreme god as embraced by the ancient Chinese quite clear. He states, "The Spirits do not have two Lords, the Lord your God is one," a familiar Bible quotation.

The first emperor of China was recorded as having built an altar to the one supreme god, about 2200 BC, offering in thanksgiving sacrifices of live animals, fruits, and other farm produce. He conducted the worship himself once a year, and the populace worshipped at the altar on special occasions and during the year. Springtime and harvest time.

The many religions introduced into that country have made the Chinese a very superstitious people, and yet, a very religious people. In present day China, religious worship of one sort or another is nationwide, and China is the only country where it is against the law for any religious group to interfere with, or do harm to another. In Beijing, you can attend a Roman Catholic Cathedral dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, quite close to the Temple of the great Buddha. There is also a temple dedicated to the First Cause, as in Bible times, there was a temple dedicated to the unknown god.

That is not to say rivalry does not exist among some of the groups.

There are among so-called Christian groups in China some of the false doctrines that we in Jamaica are familiar with. The expressions that some churches are evil, born of the devil, and some established religions are the mother of harlots, and who is the Antichrist etc.

And in the West, we have witnessed the devastation of more than one cults with their own set of commandments, centred on the leader whose activities and lifestyle are unacceptable to many. China has an intolerance for the existence of cults so that the cults we experience in the Western World, would not be allowed to exist in China. One might conclude that this is for political reasons.

Certainly the old description of the Chinese as the 'Heathen Chinee' was born out of the ignorance and prejudice of people for their own profit and purpose.