The main religions in China are
Buddhism
,
Chinese folklore
,
Taoism
and
Confucianism
among many others
Abrahamic religions
are also practised. There is a Kaifeng Jewish community living in China. Also, Islam has been historically popular, introduced since the
Tang Dynasty
. The
Hui people
and
Uyghur people
are
Muslims
.
There are three main existing branches of buddhism:
Han Buddhism
,
Tibetan Buddhism
, and
Theravada
. The first two are in
China
. They come from the
Mahayana
.they also practise other religions and also fall under the Hindu religion
Chinese folk religion is a religion that has been practised in China for thousands of years. There are at least 800,000,000 followers of Chinese folk religion worldwide (estimate). Most if not all of these followers are also followers of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, as these three philosophy-religions are major influences of China's folk religion. The influence from and to these three philosophy-religions goes to the extent that some
mythical figures
from folk culture have merged into those philosophy-religions and vice versa.
Chinese folk religion is made up of a combination of
religious
practices, including
Confucianism
, ancestor veneration,
Buddhism
and
Taoism
. Folk religion also retains traces of some of its ancestral
neolithic
belief systems which include the veneration of the
Sun
,
Moon
,
Earth
,
Heaven
and various
stars
, as well as communication with animals. It has been practised alongside
Buddhism
,
Confucianism
, and
Taoism
by Chinese people throughout the world for thousands of years.
Daoism, or Taoism, is a philosophy-religion that is at least 2,500 years old. It originated from
China
and is now widely practised in
Korea
.
道 Dao
, also Romanized as
Tao
, is the "Force" that Taoists believe makes everything in the world. It is very mysterious, and instead of spending a lot of time trying to explain what the Tao is, Taoists focus on living a simple and balanced life in harmony with
nature
. This is one of the most important principles in Taoism. Taoists also believe that
conflict
is not good and that if you have a problem with something, it is better to find a way around it.
Some important Taoists are:
- 老子
Lao Zi
. Some say he wrote
Dao De J?ng
.
- 庄子
Zhuangzi
. He wrote a book with stories that talk about Taoism.
- ?帝
Huang Di
the
Yellow Emperor
. People say he was one of the first Taoists, but it is disputed whether he even existed or not.