Editing China (section)

==Religion==

Meanwhile, let's talk about religion.  While Christianity has its own traditions of warrior-monks, usually represented as [[cleric|clerics]] or [[paladin|paladins]], the Chinese tradition is arguably the most distinctive.  Two of the three major Chinese religions/philosophies, taoism and buddhism, emphasize meditation and discipline, which is strenuous to both the body and mind.  Thus, they invented systems of exercises to strengthen both, called "kung fu," or, literally, "hard work." 

Then, when they needed to act as local militias defending against marauding bandits, it turned out having intense mental focus and physical stamina made them damn good fighters, and the rest is history.  And that, ladies and gentlemen is where the modern ''D&D'' [[monk]] came from.  

In particular, taoist practices emphasize the existence of a kind of underlying substance of which everything is made, called ''qi''.  ''Qi'' is a kind of... energy field, created by all living things.  It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds [[Star Wars|you get where this joke is going, right]]?  Anyway, in ''Exalted'', qi and essence are almost literally the same thing, and the monk and its various similar classes in ''D&D'' have "ki pools" that offer fancy new abilities.

Anyway, the Chinese ''also'' envisioned Heaven as containing a system, a Celestial Bureaucracy mirroring the one on Earth, that kept the world running according to various agreements and contracts between the gods, and even with mortal rulers via the "mandate of heaven" (a very complex concept that essentially boils down to "success and failure are self justifying").  Most tabletop settings have similar rules, regulations, and restrictions on the gods to explain why they subcontract out to adventurers, and though most of the gods and personalities of, say, the average ''D&D'' campaign setting have more to do with Western paganism than anything recognizably Chinese, the ''system'' of how they operate is more Chinese than Western simply because they ''can't'' just do as they please.

In more general terms, Chinese religion is a pretty mixed bag that leaves most outsiders confused. Yes, there are the three "main" religions of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, but they're all considered inclusive of one another, so it's possible to be a practitioner of all three.  At a very high level, Taoism is concerned with the nature of existence (and is by far the most vague of the three), while Buddhism is more concerned with the reasoning individual and the trajectory of the soul, and Confucianism focuses on the proper ordering of society (and of the three is the most prescriptive).  Traditionally, Chinese society has seen the three as complementary rather than mutually-exclusive, like many Pagan societies, though this has not stopped fundamentalist versions of one (in particular) of the three from trying to wipe out the other two whenever it becomes ascendant (''*cough* the CCP are Confuscians *cough*'').

Furthermore, you've got the myriad traditions of the ancient folk religion, largely assimilated into Taoism and Confucianism to varying degrees, centered around heaven and ancestor worship. Even after the communist purges, ancient folklore and superstition still has a strong influence among the common people, a fixation on luck being one such example, as you can see from the various lucky charms and statues in your local mom and pop American Chinese restaurant. Another such superstition lead to the creation of "[[Jiangshi|hopping vampires]]"... which are exactly what they sound like. Okay, they're more like zombies with extreme rigor mortis, but you get the idea. Anyways, if you want something that deviates from Western mythological values and religious struggles, the Chinese have an interesting set of ideas.

There are several other religious established in China of both native and foreign origins. Since the Seventh Century there have been enclaves of Christians in regions in China (and was bolstered during the age of sail) and Islam had become well established in the western regions of the Empire by the Ming Dynasty. Hinduism is established in China, but has been on the decline. There was even a Jewish enclave in the city of Kaifeng.