The Real China () von Hong-Yee Chiu

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

From Desperation to Aspiration. How?i

One Question Leads to Another

The Great Cultural Divide between the Chinese and the Western Civilizations

The Structure of this Book

Acknowledgements

Appendix: A Guide to Chinese Pronunciation Pinyin

Part I. The Beginning of Chinese Traditions

Chapter 1. Lao Zi and an Inquisitive Gatekeeper

Exodus of Lao Zi from Civilization

A Tyrant and Yi-Jing (I-Ching), Birth of Chinese Philosophy

The Zhou Dynasty began to decline ca. 700 BCE

Tao, the Progenitor of the Universe

The Missing Number Zero, a Theory of Creation and an Arcadia

Chapter 2. Wudi: Emperor Constantine of China

Inept Successor to a Great Empire and Exodus of a Confucian Scholar

From Indifference to Prominence. Establishment of Court Protocols

Official Sanction of Confucianism

Establishment of Western Theocracy. Destruction of Civilization

Coexistence of "Pagan" Philosophies in China

Confucius as the Chinese Paradigm of Teachers

Part II. The Development of Chinese Religious Thinking

Chapter 3. Two Great Floods - Chinese and Biblical

The Arrival of Flood 37

Taming of Flood and the First Chinese Dynasty

Legends or Facts? Ancient Astronomy and Modern Science Step In

Ice Age, Flooding of Black Sea and Noah's Flood

Chinese Tradition of Shi, Recording of Human and Natural Events

Chapter 4. Tian-the God of Agnostics

A Local Festival

Chinese Creation Myth

Tian - God for Agnostics

Chapter 5. The White Horse Temple - Religions in China