Chinese religions

"Chief Star pointing the Dipper" 魁星点斗 Kuíxīng diǎn Dòu
Kuixing ("Chief Star"), the god of exams, composed of the characters describing the four Confucian virtues (Sìde 四德), standing on the head of the ao (鰲) turtle (an expression for coming first in the examinations), and pointing at the Big Dipper (斗)".

Religion in China (CFPS 2014)

China has long been a cradle and host to a variety of the most enduring religio-philosophical traditions of the world. Confucianism and Taoism, later joined by Buddhism, constitute the "three teachings" that have shaped Chinese culture. There are no clear boundaries between these intertwined religious systems, which do not claim to be exclusive, and elements of each enrich popular or folk religion. The emperors of China claimed the Mandate of Heaven and participated in Chinese religious practices. In the early twentieth-century, reform-minded officials and intellectuals attacked all religions as "superstitious," and since 1949, China has been governed by the Communist Party of China, an atheist institution that prohibits party members from practicing religion while in office. The government placed religious movements and institutions under government control, then during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) suppressed them. Under following leaders, religious organisations were given more autonomy. The government formally recognises five religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism (though the Chinese Catholic Church is independent of the Catholic Church in Rome). In the early twenty-first century there has been increasing official recognition of Confucianism and Chinese folk religion as part of China's cultural inheritance.

Folk or popular religion, the most widespread system of beliefs and practices, has evolved and adapted since at least the Shang and Zhou dynasties in the second millennium BCE. During this Axial Age fundamental elements of a theology and spiritual explanation for the nature of the universe emerged. Basically, this set of beliefs involves allegiance to the shen, often translated as "spirits," but actually a broad category that includes a variety of gods and immortals. These can be deities of the natural environment or ancestral principles of human groups, concepts of civility, culture heroes, many of whom feature in Chinese mythology and history. Confucian philosophy and religious practice began their long evolution during the later Zhou; Taoist institutionalised religions developed by the Han dynasty; Chinese Buddhism became widely popular by the Tang dynasty, and in response Confucian thinkers developed Neo-Confucian philosophies; and sects and local cults thrived. Christianity in China appeared in the 7th century, but did not take root until it was reintroduced in the 16th century by Jesuit missionaries. In the early 20th century Christian communities grew, but after 1949, foreign missionaries were expelled, and churches brought under the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. After the late 1970s, religious freedoms for Christians improved and new Chinese groups emerged. China is also often considered a home to humanist and secularist, this-worldly thought beginning in the time of Confucius.

...
Wikipedia