China- Religion

Chinese religion tended to be centred on the family and the local community. Even religions with well developed philosophies, like Taoism and Buddhism, were organized primarily in monasteries which had relatively little connection with each other. Religious believers seldom formed institutions, certianly nothing to compare with the powerful Christian churches of the West. The imperial state therefore kept a watchful eye on religious groups, and sometimes suppressed those for example, underground sects, which overstepped boundaries. Every district had its own particular traditions, but practices connected with gods, ghosts and ancestors were especially prominent. Gods included the spirits of deceased heroes, versions of Taoist or Buddhist deities and local spirits. I believe that ancestor worship was done before Buddhism or Taoism existed China.