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Why didn't China become a religious country in history?
Religious countries, the so-called state religion, most countries in the world have a national religion in history, which exists among the people and has a strong social foundation. As far as China is concerned, the only thing that can be compared is probably Confucianism advocated by the quintessence school in modern times. But Confucianism is not a religion after all, although the religiousization of Confucianism has been quite severe since Dong Zhongshu. This problem is actually very complicated. I'm afraid it is impossible to find a solution to the problem without exploring the long-term historical reality of this country.

Religious Germination in Shang Dynasty and Political Pragmatism in Zhou Dynasty

I'm afraid it's hard to say what cultural contribution the Xia Dynasty brought to us (in fact, it's hard to say whether the Xia Dynasty did or not). As far as we know, the Shang Dynasty established the basic framework of Chinese culture. Compared with later China people, it is well known that businessmen attach importance to ghosts and gods. The so-called emphasis on ghosts and gods includes two aspects, one is the worship of natural gods, and the other is the deification of ancestors. The fate of a mysterious bird gave birth to a business, and the house was very big. In the Book of History, Pan Geng taught the unconvinced aristocrats in the name of his ancestors. This idea is also the ideological origin of the so-called respect for heaven and ancestors. It can be said that in the Shang Dynasty, religious rudiments and ancestor worship based on national myths have been formed. According to the records unearthed in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the merchants worshipped the supreme god they called the emperor. We can say that it is not a big problem to develop a national religion that is officially recognized by a country and has a strong social foundation among the people.

But the invasion of Zhou people interrupted this process and a new dynasty was established. What are the cultural differences between Shang and Zhou Dynasties? I'm afraid it's hard to say this, but what is certain is that they are in the same strain in the aspects of kingship thought, writings, and the concept of respecting heaven and ancestors. However, Zhou people were deeply impressed by the lessons of the demise of the Shang Dynasty. Of course, they also need the grace of God and the blessings of their ancestors, but their example of overthrowing the Shang Dynasty with strength also made them realize the importance of personnel. Therefore, without denying Tianwei, Zhou people said: Heaven takes the people as its own and listens to the people. This pragmatic political view is also a unique concept in the world. The initiator of this concept is Zhou Gongdan. Under the influence of this pragmatic political concept, the criminal law of rites and music actually replaced the role of Heaven Emperor. Therefore, the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty also talked about providence, but in fact they were not as obsessed as businessmen. However, due to the need of political rationality brought by providence, the concept of heaven has been preserved. Of course, it is not excluded that the national myths believed by Zhou people are not the same as those of Shang dynasty, which makes Zhou people unable and unwilling to continue with the religious concepts of Shang dynasty. The emperor with independent personality worshipped by businessmen eventually became a theological concept.

2. The rise of Confucianism and the continued development of pragmatism.

Confucianism, verified by modern archaeologists, was the first emcee who presided over activities on ceremonial occasions, and later served as an aristocratic educator. Therefore, it is not surprising that the six arts learned by nobles eventually became the Confucian Bible. One result of Zhou people's pragmatism of separating specific political operations from religious concepts is that Confucianism, which is in charge of etiquette activities, is not familiar with the operation of religious activities. Confucius, who later became the pioneer of Confucianism, stayed away from ghosts and gods and did not talk about Machamp's confusion, so it was not puzzling. The truth may be that Confucius really didn't understand these things.

In fact, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period should be viewed separately. In the Spring and Autumn Period, although the ceremony collapsed, the system has not completely collapsed. Although everyone wants to maintain the feudal system, what everyone has done is undoubtedly destroying it. Although the heaven revered by Zhou people has increasingly become a concept rather than a personality god, the national and religious system has been maintained. Although pragmatism actually maintains the state power, the ruler still talks about state affairs, whether it is worship or military affairs. It was different during the Warring States period. In the case that no idealistic ideology can change the war situation, the feudal system of Zhou Dynasty has been difficult to go back, and the pragmatic tendency of thinkers of various factions has become more and more obvious. Mohist school seems idealistic, but from the perspective of ordinary people, the thought of universal love and non-aggression of Shang Yang and Shang Tong can be said to be very realistic. Although Mo Zhai also said that we should respect heaven and ghosts and gods, the pragmatic motive behind it is obvious. In this era, Confucianism also abandoned the gentle veil of Confucius. Although Mencius claimed that he didn't want to (this is a necessary argument), he also personally went into battle against Yang Xing. His tone of lobbying governors has also become concerned about the governors themselves (although he also talks about benevolence, righteousness and morality on the surface). By Xunzi's time, although he was also a Confucian, the ceremony in Xunzi's eyes was essentially just one of the means of king's rule, which was obviously less than three miles away from Legalism. In this way, in the middle and late Warring States period, the legalist school with the strongest pragmatism gradually occupied and became a prominent school, and finally became the ruling theory of China with the unification of Qin, which also marked the peak of the pragmatic arms race among the philosophers since the Warring States period.

In this environment, can the religious concept in this land of the Central Plains develop? In this period, the strongest religious color was probably the southern State of Chu (worshiping Zhu Rong) and the Song State established by the descendants of merchants, but it probably had no influence on the Central Plains. After all, in the case of pragmatism, the fist is not big enough and few people listen to the speech.