daoism

Especially over the 7th, 8th and early 9th centuries CE, East Asia was dominated by the great Tang China Empire, which is shown covering the whole area of ethnic China, plus Annam (northern Vietnam) to the south and the Tarim Basin in central Asia (shown gold outlined in the map below). At this time neighboring Japan and Korea were also deeply influenced by the patterns and technologies of Chinese Confucian civilization. Tang rule began in China in 618 CE, when the Tang dynasty solidified the reunification of China, which under the Han (206 BCE - 220 CE) had first created successful Confucian imperial rule. Tang reunification confirmed both the importance of Confucianism as the best way to get stable, effective rule and the dominance of centralized Chinese states (when at their strongest) over the rest of East Asia.

Internally, Chinese rule and society was based first and foremost on Confucianism. Confucianism had at its core the ideas of the man known in history as Confucius, who lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. Confucianism is not a religion; rather it is a philosophy concerned with how best to organize and run a stable, fair, successful society. Confucius believed that the best society and government was one in whic

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The longer the adherent's life, the more saintly the person is presumed to have become.

But Confucian rule worked in good part because it matched, and was believed really to represent, the basic structure of Chinese culture and society.

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Source:Nancy Lee Swan, trasns. Most of these would be well-born, among other things because in his day only the elites had a chance at a good education. There have been several such ways in China's long history, including Confucianism and Buddhism. Confucius defined five cardinal relationships: between ruler and ruled, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between older and younger brothers, and between friends.

Taoism began as a complex system of philosophical thought that could be indulged in by only a few individuals. Women were never allowed to hold any Confucian government office, and the few women who held visible power within royal courts usually ended up being criticized, often as evil Dowager Empresses, by later Confucian historians. In later centuries it emerged, perhaps under the influence of Buddhism, as a communal religion.

Buddhism, which came to China from India as early as the 1st century AD, was a more conventional religion.

*TAOISM

In the Chinese language the word tao means "way," indicating a way of thought or life. Both of these systems originated in China during the so-called Golden Age of Chinese thought, several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era.

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