Introduction
Folk religions have been practiced alongside Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism by Chinese people throughout the
world for thousands of years. Worship, legends, festivals and various devotions associated with different folk gods and goddesses
form an important part of Chinese culture even today. The worship of secondary gods does not conflict with an individual's chosen religion,
but is accepted as a complementary adjunct to Buddhism, Confucianism or Taoism. Some mythical figures in folk culture have even
been integrated into Buddhism as in the case of Miao Shan who is generally thought of having evolved into the Buddhist bodhisattva Kuan Yin.
Other folk gods may date back to pre-Buddhist eras of Chinese history.
There are hundreds of different gods and goddeses as well as "saints," immortals and demigods. Historical figures noted for their bravery or virtue
are also venerated and honored with their own festivals after the are apotheosized.
In many ways, gods of Chinese folk religion are counterparts of humanity. Their domain, tien or heaven, is a mirror image of earth.The gods have
social hierarchies:the Jade Emperor is the counterpart of the earthly emperor, and his subjects the lesser gods, observe the social protocols as strictly as their earthly counterparts.
The gods also live variously in palaces or households much in the same way as the people
who worship them and they frequently exhibit very human foibles. According to accounts in the Feng shen yen i in 1122 BCE, during the Chou Dynasty, the gods,
demigods and other immortals even engaged in a long drawn out battle with each other over which dynasty should rule China.
The distinction between heavenly beings and humans was first made in the ancient Book of Rites. Although the Chinese have venerated
their ancestors for thousands of years, the worship of tien and everything associated with it is distinct from the the
veneration of humans such as ancestors or venerable figures such as Confucius who belong to the category of spirits known as kuei.
