Religion of Ancient China: From Neolithic to Shang Dynasty

en Teoría e Historia de las Religiones, UNAM, 2010

This paper presents archaeological and written evidence about shamanistic beliefs and practices in the Neolithic period and the first dynasties of Bronze Age China.

Journal of Social Archaeology

This paper challenges the recurring theme in archaeological research that places religions at the core of social identity, and investigates the theoretical literature that has influenced how archaeologists understand the study of religion, and has subsequently reinforced this idea. It surveys the changing religious attitudes and ritual practices in ancient China during the first millennium BC to demonstrate their surprising instability. A model is presented where ritual is an ever-changing source of ideological tensions and religion is but one facet of social identity, not its basis. Consequently, religion is seen as naturally susceptible to both rapid and slow changes, driven by both inner social processes and external stimuli.

Concept of God in Ancient China - The origin of Chinese religious practice, 2018

Religious practice in ancient China dates back over 7,000 years ago. Long before the Confucius, Lao Zi and the Buddha got accepted and developed philosophical and spiritual teachings, the people believed, developed and worshipped personifications of nature and concepts like "wealth" or "fortune" which eventually developed into a religion. Such thoughts and beliefs still influence religious practices today. Evidence suggests Chinese mythological symbolism from the 12th century BC carved in the Oracle bone scripts. Legend of creation were passing down for over a thousand years before was written in books such as Classic of Mountains and Seas

There are 6 parts in total to this writing: *One: Paleolithic or Old Stone Age in China and Different Approaches to Defining Civilization *Two: Early Neolithic China: Ritual, Religion, and Civilization *Three: Middle Neolithic China: Ritual, Religion, Elites, and Language *Four: Late Neolithic and Bronze Age China: Ritual, Religion, Elites, Language, and Empires *Five: Bronze Age and Ancient China: Ritual, Religion, Elites, Language, and Empires *Six: Ancient China: Ritual, Religion, Elites, Language, and Empires

From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions, edited by Justin McDaniel and Lynn Ransom. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015, 131-150.

Paul FISCHER, BJAS, (2017)

Religions, 2018

This paper presents information on the shamanic religious system practiced among the Tu ethnic group of Qinghai Province in Northwest China. After presenting ethnographic information on the spirit beliefs, rituals, and shamanic specialists of the Tu, the paper will use a systemic definition of religion to (1) identify changes that have occurred in the focus of Tu shamanism and the role of the shaman, and (2) identify a cluster of causal factors—techno-economic, sociopolitical, and ideational—exogenous to the religious system itself that appear to have played a role in generating these changes. The paper will focus on two specificcorresponding increase in the importance of shamanic leadership in collective rainfall rituals that affect the entire community. The explanatory paradigm utilized is a modified adaptation to contemporary Chinese reality of the Historical Materialist paradigm pioneered by Marx and Engels and the Cultural Materialist paradigm developed by Marvin Harris. While ...

Journal of Chinese History, 2016