Religions of Ancient China

by Herbert A. Giles

Overview

Book Excerpt: the second month of the year, he made a tour ofinspection eastwards, as far as Mount T'ai (in modern Shantung), wherehe presented a burnt offering to God, and sacrificed to the Mountainsand Rivers."God punishes the wicked and rewards the good.--The Great Yu, whodrained the empire, and came to the throne in B.C. 2205 as firstEmperor of the Hsia dynasty, followed in the lines of his piouspredecessors. But the Emperor K'ung Chia, B.C. 1879-1848, who at firsthad treated the Spirits with all due reverence, fell into evil ways,and was abandoned by God. This was the beginning of the end. In B.C.1766 T'ang the Completer, founder of the Shang dynasty, set to work tooverthrow Chieh Kuei, the last ruler of the Hsia dynasty. He began bysacrificing to Almighty God, and asked for a blessing on hisundertaking. And in his subsequent proclamation to the empire, hespoke of that God as follows: "God has given to every man aconscience; and if all men acted in accordance with its dictates, theywould not strayRead More

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455419593
Publisher:	B&R Samizdat Express
Publication date:	10/20/2011
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	125 KB

About the Author

Herbert Allen Giles; 8 December 1845 - 13 February 1935) was a British diplomat, Sinologist, and professor of Chinese. Giles was educated at Charterhouse School before becoming a British diplomat in China. He modified a Mandarin Chinese Romanization system earlier established by Thomas Wade, resulting in the widely known Wade-Giles Chinese romanization system. Among his many works were translations of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and in 1892 the first widely published Chinese-English dictionary.