RELIGION. There are five religions in China that are well established. These are the Con fucian, Buddhist. Taoist, Mohammedan, and Christian; each of them a 'book' religion, and, excepting Taoism, with an historical founder. The religion of the ancient Chinese consisted of the double worship of God and of ancestors. Confucius gathered up and gave literary form to the national traditions. In doing this he so edited the ancient documents as to throw into shadow the spiritual and to lay emphasis upon the material side of life. By forbidding ambition he cut the tap-root of progress and produced a stagnant civilization. This system is still the basis of Chinese society and government. it is less a religion than a philosophy and practi cal code. having reference simply to this life. and making good citizens and neighbors rather than developing the possibilities of mankind. On its philosophical side, Confucianism has gone through ninny champs, until it has become the and the substitute for religion with the lettered classes. (See CTIP-ITT.) Though his tab let is saluted, and sacrifices of oxen and sheep are made before it at the equinoxes, it is hardly ac curate to say that Confucius is worshiped.
Lao-tse (q.v.)—or. to Latinize it. Laoeius a contemporary of Confucius, though older than he, was more of a true philosopher or inquirer into the causes of things. He taught the doctrine of Tao. His remarkable treatise, the Tao Tch King (too means reason), contains neither superstition nor religion, but a system of rationalism. A vast, intangible, impersonal first principle is regarded there as the parent of all things, and man must attempt to realize this primipie by escaping from all mental dis traction. Lao-tse's speculations payed the way for Buddhism. In its subsequent development. or degradation, it has become little more than a fanta tic system of spirit-worship, of which aleheiny. incantation, and intercourse with the dead are the chief characteristics. As a religion it is not as ancient as Buddhism. and there is little or no connection between Lao-tse's teach ings and the Taoism of to-day.
Buddhism entered China shortly after the opening of the Christian era, and in its develop ment has taken the Northern, or expanded form, with its paradise, goddess of mercy, scriptures. voluminous and imposing ritual, passionate rhetoric, and a thousand stimulating influences which satisfied a mental craving not provided for in the simple materialism of Confucius. Be sides monasteries and images, the Buddhist tem ples are found all over China. but in decay. The priests are illiterate, and despised by the edu cated. The monks and nuns are usually beg gars, the former recognizable by their yellow robe. Only in a few places can Buddhism be said to be vigorous. The language of the sacred canon is Sanskrit, now known to few in China.
Mohammedanism was introduced directly from Arabia, and, as is believed, by the maternal uncle of 31ohammed. Arriving in caravans front cen tral Asia, or in ship: by sea, the missionaries preached the faith industriously, and there are now about 20,090,000 :Moslems in the empire. They have obtained State recognition. The three provinces Yunnan, Kan-su, and Shensi contain nine-tenths of these believers in one God, there being 10.000.000 north of the Vang-tse-kiang and 200,000 in Peking. Mosques are numerous, each containing a tablet in gold letters and read ing "May the Emperor live ten thousand years." There is a large native literature on the subject of the faith of Islam in China.
The progress of Christianity has been slow. A tablet found in 1020, at Changan, Shensi, in dicates that the Nestorians introduced Christian ity into China early in the Sixth Century. The .Tesuits Iluggiaro and Ricci went to China in 1579 and 15til. Protestant missions were led by 'Hobert Alorrison in 1807. The latest estimates attribute to the Roman Catholics somewhat more than a million adherents, and to the Protestants about 100,000. Most of the men in the reform party have been pupils of the missionaries.