Popular Chinese culture encompasses a number of non-religious belief systems. The blending of various religious deities and non-religious spirits gave rise to the Chinese people's characteristically pragmatic religious beliefs.

Popular Chinese beliefs were greatly influenced by hierarchical Confucian ideology, giving rise to the veneration of "Heaven, Earth, Rulers, Ancestors, and Masters."

(1) Heaven

Temple of Heaven,Beijing

Chinese folk beliefs are based in a large part on the worship of various aspects of Nature, particularly the heaven, earth, sun, and moon. TheTempleof Heaven is a sacred complex in Beijing where the emperor made sacrifices to heaven. Its outer wall is round, symbolizing heaven, and the inner wall is square, symbolizing earth. This embodies the ancient Chinese cosmological principle that heaven (the natural world) is round and earth (human experience and concepts of order) is square.

(2) Earth

Bixia Yuanjun Temple,Mount Tai

Veneration of Earth was expressed by offering sacrifices to mountains and rivers. Among the main centers of worship were the temples of the Five Great Mountains, including Mount Tai, and the temples of the Four Great Rivers, including theYellow Riverand the Changjiang River. After the 10th century, temples to local Earth deities also spread throughout the country.

(3) Rulers

 
Xuanyuan Temple,Shaanxi Province

The Chinese people have always venerated the rulers of past dynasties, especially those who made major contributions to humanity. Xuanyuan Temple in Shaanxi Province commemorates the most famous of these rulers, the Yellow Emperor,, who is said to have who lived between 3000 and 2070 BC, and who the Chinese worshipped as the First Ancestor of the Chinese nation. The In fact, Chinese people still refer to themselves as the "descendents of the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor."

(4) Ancestors

Ancestor worship was by far the most influential folk belief of ancient China. Sacrifices to the ancestors were made throughout society, from theTaimiaoImperial Temple in theForbidden Cityto the ancestral halls of the common people. Ancestral halls often were where clan elders exercised their authority. With the exception of the Qingyitang Hall of Female Ancestors in Huizhou, almost all ancestral temples in China were dedicated to male forebears, reflecting feudal China's patriarchal and patrilineal code.

Taimiao Imperial Temple, Forbidden City, Beijing

Ancestral hall

(5) Masters

The ancient Chinese people believed in the indestructibility of the soul, and often deified people of outstanding merit after their deaths.

Confucius Templein Beijing

Confuciuswas worshipped as the spiritual master of the intellectuals of ancient China. Next to every school was a temple dedicated to the Master. These Confucius Temples, also called Temples of Culture, served as spiritual centers for two millennia of Chinese scholars. The common people also had temples dedicated to Confucius, known as Scholar Temples.

Guandi Temple, Xiezhou,Shanxi Province

Guan Yu, who lived from 169 to 219, was a great military commander of the lateHan Dynasty(206BC-220AD). Because of his valor and loyalty, he was deified by later generations as the God of War. In ancient China, Guandi temples dedicated to Guan Yu were even more common than Confucius temples. Interestingly enough, due to Guan Yu's honesty, integrity, and lack of greed, he was also worshipped as the guardian of commerce.

(6) Life, death, and Chinese view on nature

The Tomb of the First Qin Emperor

 
Terra Cotta Warriors, Pit 1

The ancient Chinese people believed that the soul is immortal, and that after death, people continue to live in a fashion very similar to life on earth. The burial chamber was thought to be the location of this "life after death." This conception gave rise to the Chinese tradition of lavish interments. The tombs of emperors, in particular, were constructed as complete underground worlds, filled with an extensive and luxurious selection of items for use by the deceased.

The tomb of Qinshi Huangdi, the FirstQin Dynasty(221-206BC) Emperor who unified China in 221 BC, is the most famous example. This massive underground citycovers a total area of 56.25 square kilometers. To date, only a fraction of it has been excavated. The pits containing the famous army of terra cotta warriors and horses represent merely a small corner of the entire complex.

 
Ming Tombs

TheMing Dynasty(1368-1644) Tombs are the most complete and best-preserved imperial tomb complex in the world, consisting of temples as well as mausoleums. The aboveground section includes large palaces that were used for sacrificial rituals. The Ming Tombs were laid out and constructed based on the doctrines of traditional Chinese fengshui, or geomancy. Every element of the complex is in complete harmony with the surrounding mountains, rivers, and vegetation, embodying the philosophical principle of the Unity of Heaven and Humanity.

(7) The pursuit of happiness

 
Longevity Hill,Summer Palace, Beijing

The human desire for good fortune and longevity finds many reflections inChinese architecture.

Qing Dynasty(1644-1911) Emperor Qian Long built the Summer Palace in Beijing in honor of his mother's birthday. The Chinese words for "bat" and "good fortune" are homonyms, so the mountain at the Summer Palace is constructed in the shape of a bat. Peaches are a metaphor for longevity, so the lake is shaped like a peach. Together, the mountain and lake convey wishes for good fortune and longevity.

Auspicious decoration,Prince Gong's Residence, Beijing

The phrases "many seeds" and "many sons" are homonyms in Chinese. Pomegranates and gourds, both of which have many seeds, are therefore often used as decorations in Chinese architecture, reflecting the traditional Chinese desire for many sons. Bats, peaches, and pomegranates or gourds often appear together, graphically expressing the wish for "good fortune, longevity, and many sons." These images represent the fusion of Chinese culture and the pursuit of happiness.

(8) Dragon totems

The dragon was the totem of the ancient Chinese people. The Chinese dragon is an imaginary creature with the head of a horse, the eyes of a shrimp, the neck of a tortoise, the horns of a stag, the paws of a tiger, the claws of an eagle, and the tail of a goldfish. The dragon represents the combination of the totems and symbols of China's various ancient tribes, following their unification into the early Chinese people.

Nine Dragon Wall

As China entered its feudal period, the dragon gradually became the exclusive symbol of the imperial family, as the emperor was considered as the embodiment of the dragon. As a result, imperial palaces were filled with decorative images of dragons, creating a veritable "world of dragons."

Various forms of dragons also appear throughout Chinese architecture. According to one legend, "One dragon gives birth to nine offspring, but the offspring do not resemble dragons." The small creatures often depicted on palace doors, incense burners, androofeaves and peaks represent the nine offspring of the dragon's family.