Chinese Religion: Did you mean...?

For well over 1,000 years, sacred stories and heroic epics have made up the mythology of Hinduism. Nothing in these complex yet colourful legends is fixed and firm. Pulsing with creation, destruction, love, and war, it shifts and changes...

Sima Qian (l. 145/135-86 BCE) was a court scribe, astrologer, and historian of the Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE) of ancient China, famous for his historical work Records of the Grand Historian for which he is remembered as the Father of...

The Yongle Emperor (aka Chengzu or Yung Lo, r. 1403-1424 CE) was the third ruler of the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE). Inheriting a stable state thanks to the work of his father, the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368-1398 CE), Yongle made lasting...

Confucius (Kongzi) was a 6th century BCE Chinese philosopher. His thoughts, expressed in the philosophy of Confucianism, have influenced Chinese culture right up to the present day. Confucius is a larger than life figure and it is difficult...

The Supreme August Jade Emperor is the supreme deity of Chinese tradition and is otherwise known as Yuhuang Shangdi (Yu-huang Shang-ti), Yudi (Yu Ti) or Mr. Heaven (Lao-t'ien ye). He governs the cosmos and resides in a magnificent palace...

Zheng Yi (also Cheng I, Ching Yih, Cheng Yao-I, Cheng Wen-Hsien, or Cheng Yud) was a Chinese pirate who lived from 1765 to 1807. Operating in the South China Sea, Zheng Yi famously led a 600-ship pirate confederation. This force of more than...

There were over 200 gods and goddesses worshipped throughout ancient China, but if one were to count every deity or spirit, the number would be over 1,000. Each town, village, city, field, farm, and sometimes even separate plot in a graveyard...

Goguryeo (Koguryo) was a kingdom which ruled northern Korea during the Three Kingdoms period from the 1st century BCE to 7th century CE. The kingdom flourished in the 5th and 6th century CE and has left a rich cultural heritage best seen...

Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated...

Oracle bones or dragon bones were the shoulder blades of oxen or the flat underside of a turtle shell known as a plastron that were used for divination during the Shang Dynasty of China which dates between c. 1600 and 1046 BCE. The bones...