Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 12 - The religious and intellectual background

  • Edited by Denis Twitchett, Michael Loewe
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of China
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    26 December 1986, pp 649-725

  • Summary

    Many studies of Chinese thought tend to concentrate on the growth of what are regarded as the three major schools of Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism. These terms should be used with care, particularly for the four centuries of Ch'in and Han, when major developments were taking place. Some Ch'in and Han thinkers laid deep stress on the need to organize the life and work of mankind by means of sanctions and institutions, with the specific intention of enriching and strengthening the state. Chinese mythology alludes to the emergence and work of culture heroes. The peoples of the Ch'in and Han age inherited from their forbears the worship of a number of deities. The relationship between Buddhism and Taoist religion came to be complex. The importance of music had been recognized by the designation of one text as the Yueh-ching, now long lost.