Chinese Religious Traditions Trivia Quiz

Answer: Theriomorphic

This word comes from the Greek "thēriomorphos," from "thērion" ("wild animal") and "morphē" ("form"). Like many ancient religions, Chinese religion has incorporated many kinds of symbolic animals into their traditional pantheon. I took this photo in a shrine located near the base of one of the entrances to the Great Wall of China.

In addition to the animal-headed deities shown in the photo, there were many others, including a mouse, tiger, monkey, rat, rabbit, snake, goat, and a bull, each of whom was armed with a distinctive weapon, suggesting they were symbolic guardians.

Answer: Qufu, Shandong Province

The teachings of Confucius, who lived from 551-479 BCE, mainly focused on worldly and humanistic concerns, such as personal and governmental morality, but encompassed transcendent, spiritual concerns as well through the concept of living in harmony with "Heaven" (which represented the highest divine authority).

After his death, his former house in Qufu was converted into a temple, which was visited by 12 different emperors who came to pay their respects. The temple has undergone many restorations over the centuries and has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994.

The temple complex, which is one of the largest in China, covers an area of 16,000 square metres and has a total of 460 rooms.

Answer: Tai chi

Also spelled "Taiji" in the Pinyin system, as opposed to the older Wade-Giles system of transliteration. The concept of "Supreme Ultimate" refers to a primordial reality that transcends categories, and from which yin and yang (complementary feminine and masculine principles) originate, which in turn give rise to all things in the universe.

The concept of Tai Chi has been widely influential in Chinese philosophy, including such contrasting movements as Confucianism (which emphasizes moral conduct and self-improvement) and Taoism (which emphasizes spontaneity and closeness to the natural world).

The martial art with the same name is actually more formally known as T'ai Chi Ch'uan, which translates as "Supreme Ultimate Fist," and which incorporates the idea of balancing yin and yang energies.

Answer: Shangdi

During the Shang dynasty, which existed in the second millennium BCE, Shangdi was regarded as the highest deity who ruled all the lesser gods, and the name may be translated as "Highest Deity". Shangdi was regarded as a celestial being who was often identified with the Pole Star and had had the power to prevent, or end, plagues, drought, floods, violent storms, and other natural phenomena.

In later dynasties, Shangdi was identified with the concept of Heaven, a concept that represented the highest divine authority.

In later centuries, Christian missionaries in China would often use the term Shangdi to refer to the Christian God, even though the latter concept is quite different from the traditional Chinese concept of divinity.

Answer: Good harvests

The Temple of Heaven is a complex of religious buildings located in Beijing. The building pictured is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the largest building in the Temple of Heaven. The blue sign on top of the building can be translated as "Pray for bumper harvest." Construction of the temple occurred from 1406 to 1420 during the Ming dynasty, and it was extended in the sixteenth century.

The emperor was regarded as the "Son of Heaven," and it was therefore his religious duty to periodically intercede with the ruler of Heaven on behalf of his people, which involved making ceremonial sacrifices.

In 1998, the Temple of Heaven was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is popular tourist destination.

Answer: I Ching

I Ching, which translates as "Book of Changes" or "Classic of Changes," dates back over 2500 years and includes later philosophical commentaries on the original text attributed to Confucius. There are 64 hexagrams, which consist of a series of lines that are either broken (representing yin) or unbroken (representing yang). People use the text for divination by asking a question, and then performing a ritual procedure to generate one or two hexagrams, which are thought to symbolically answer the question.

The original method for determining each of the six lines involved sorting yarrow stalks into random piles; a more popular and simpler method is to toss three coins for each line. Once a hexagram is obtained, the text may be consulted regarding its interpretation.

The I Ching has been highly respected in Chinese culture throughout its history and is regarded as one of the "Five Classics" (canonical texts) of Confucianism, and has had a major influence on Taoism as well.

Answer: Hell bank notes

The practice of burning spirit money occurs in Chinese communities around the world and has spread to other countries in East Asia including Vietnam. The notes come in many designs and denominations, which nowadays may even go into the billions. In English speaking countries, it is common for the words "Hell Bank Note" to appear prominently on one side, in addition to Chinese characters, with an image of the "Bank of Hell" on the other side.

The word "Hell" in this context refers to a place in the underworld where all souls are believed to go after they die, although this is not necessarily a place of torment as in Christianity. One popular theory of uncertain veracity is that the name "hell" was adopted as the English name of the Chinese afterlife after Christian missionaries preached that non-Christian Chinese people would go to hell after death, and it was assumed that this was simply the proper name in English for the underworld.

In addition to burning these bank notes, mourners may also burn paper effigies of other items the deceased may need, including credit cards, cans of Coca-Cola (really!), cigarettes, and even luxury items such as phones and jewelry.

Answer: He died

According to the legend, the universe began in a featureless, undifferentiated state. A cosmic egg emerged containing the opposing principles of yin and yang; when they became balanced, Pangu hatched from the egg. He then set about creating Heaven and Earth, which he separated by pushing up the sky.

After many millennia, Pangu finally died and the parts of his body became major features of the world, for example, his eyes became the sun and the moon, his breath became the wind, his blood became the rivers, and so on.

There are a number of shrines in China today where Pangu is still worshiped, such as the Pangu King Temple in Guangdong Province that was built in 1809.

Answer: Yellow Emperor

The Yellow Emperor was traditionally not only considered the first emperor of all China but the originator of Chinese culture. Many classic medical and political texts have been attributed to him, including the "Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor," which has been a major source text for Chinese medicine for more than two millennia.

The Yellow Emperor was also worshipped as a god, and symbolically represents the centre of the universe. Although Chinese historians traditionally regarded him as a historical person, in more recent times it has been thought that he was originally a deity who became regarded as the progenitor of the Chinese state when China was politically unified during the Qin dynasty in the third century BCE. The accompanying image is of a 1938 100-yuan banknote with a portrait of the Yellow Emperor.

Answer: Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu, whose name means "Old Master," is a semi-legendary figure who is said to have lived in the 6th century BCE and been an elder contemporary of Confucius. He is attributed with writing the "Tao Te Ching," a seminal Taoist work that has had an enormous influence on Chinese philosophical and religious traditions, although it is most likely to have been compiled by several individuals.

Many legends surround the life of Lao Tzu and he was eventually granted the status of a major deity. The "Tao Te Ching" famously states that: "The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things." The nature of the Three has been a subject of debate.

In religious Taoism, the Three are personified as deities called the Three Pure Ones who are considered pure manifestations of the Tao who oversaw the creation of the universe. One of these three, Daode Tianzun, which means "Lord of the Way and its Virtue," and who is also known as the Grand Pure One, is said to have had various incarnations to teach living beings, including one as Lao Tzu.