Religion and State through the Imperial Era

The nexus between the state and religion in China can be traced back to the Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century BCE), where divination records suggest spirit and ancestor worship at the royal court and in connection with military campaigns. The subsequent Zhou Dynasty (1045-265 BCE) instituted the idea of the Mandate of Heaven, whereby a just ruler would retain rule and an unjust ruler would be overthrown. From this era dates the emergence of Confucianism and Taoism, philosophical and religious movements that would shape the subsequent development of culture, society, and politics in China. The Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) established Confucianism, with its emphasis on social order and filial piety, as the philosophical underpinning of the state. During the 5th and 6th centuries CE Buddhism spread from South and Central Asia into China. The transition from the Tang (618-907) to the Song Dynasty (960-1270) saw an active competition for political influence among the country's three major religious and philosophical traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. After a period of Mongol rule that included first sustained contacts with Islam and some interaction with Christianity, the Ming (1368-1644) and then the Ching (1644-1911) dynasties instated a Neo-Confucian system of strict state control of religious organization. The final decades of the Ching were marked by imperialist incursions from the West and internal crises, including the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64), a religiously inspired challenge to state authority, and the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), partly directed against foreign missionaries.