Chinese Religions throughout the Dynasties

Film Focus: This video begins with Neolithic China and traces the development of the variety of religious practices in China up to the modern day.

Text Focus: Pages 372–386

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the three main religions that are practiced in China today? When were each introduced into China?
2. What religious practices were present in Neolithic China?
3. When did Buddhism reach China? What route did Buddhism take to enter into China?
4. Discuss how Buddhism became an important force within China amid the rising and falling of many dynasties.
5. Discuss the arrival of Islam into China. How did it arrive? Who brought it? Was it welcomed?
6. What happened to China and Chinese religion in the nineteenth century and the twentieth century? How has this impacted Chinese religion today?

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