Taoism
Tao means "way" or "path." Taoism is sometimes spoken as Daoism. It is a religion with about 225 million followers, although it's impossible to calculate the exact number of followers because many of these followers also follow other religions. most followers believe that it was started a little before 600 BC by Lao Tzu(or Tsu) . Lao believed that the way to go to happiness was to "Go with the flow." He thought instead of working hard to get things done that people should spend their time trying to find out an easier way to do things. He believed that the yin(the dark side) was the women, still things, and death. The yang(the bright/bright side) was the side of men, the sun, things that move, dragons, and birth. Everyone has yin and yang in them, but it's important to keep them balanced because some chinese doctors believe a lot of illnesses come from too much yin or too much yang. Lao also thought is was important to make sure there are lots of laws about how people should behave.
Taoists mainly eat the following foods:
-Rich food such as meat and wine
-Natural Foods
*Taoists are very worried about their diet and making sure they eat healthy and organic foods.
*In China, they use yen as their currency.
*In China, they grow rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, and oil seed. They trade their surplus crops for other things they can't grow or don't have in China.
*China is a communist country. People in charge, or dictators, can control your religion and much more. If they catch you practicing a different religion than they want you to, you will be punished. They don't have the freedoms we have in America.
These are some of the foods the eat in China:
-Chow Mein -Sweet and
-White rice sour pork
-Fried Rice -Stir Fry
-Tofu -Orange Chicken
Their written language is Chinese.
China still uses the Arabic Numeral writing system, but they also you the Chinese numeral writing system. It is a base-10 system. In China, they have characters for numbers 0-9, and for zero they can use a plain 0 as well.
The Myth of Pan Ku: Creation and the Universal Egg
In the beginning of time, there was only chaos. The elements and gases of the heavens and earth freely mingled, and the organizing principle was dormant. It lay dormant somewhere inside this elemental cosmos, awaiting the right moment to begin the transformation. The shape of this primeval mass was something like an egg.
For 18,000 years the universe remained in this state, until the incubation was finally complete, and the egg hatched. Then the heavens and the earth came into existence. The lighter, most pure substances floated upward and became the heavens. These elements were named yang. The heavier, more impure substances descended and became the earth. These were named yin.
From the same forces, a third, the giant Pan Ku, was born as well. As he grew, his sheer size divided the heavens and the earth. The giant lived for another 18,000 years. With the assistance of four creatures, a tortoise, a phoenix, a dragon, and a unicorn, he labored daily to mold the earth. Together they created the world as we know it today.
When Pan Ku finally died, his body was transformed. His left eye became the sun and his right eye became the moon. His blood became the rivers and oceans, his breath became the wind, his sweat became the rain, and his voice became the thunder. His flesh became the soil, and from the fleas living on his body, the human race sprang into being. In this way, the stage was set for the pageant of history to unfold.
The story of Pan Ku is the Chinese myth of creation. The ancient myths of creation from virtually all cultures show that at the root of human experience is the belief that our world has an organizing principle. After this creative force appears, everything else takes the form of opposing forces: heaven and earth, black and white, day and night, good and evil. These are the ideas of the yang and the yin, of the masculine and feminine. These opposing qualities are, by their fundamental natures, equal in all respects but forever separate entities.
Here we see the theme of the One giving rise to the two in the order of creation, and of a creator who, like Pan Ku, works with primordial substances to bring an entire world into being. This theme will expanded upon in the next section as we discuss the connection between Taoism and nature.
(the creation story is from http://people.howstuffworks.com/meaning-of-taoism1.htm)
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/china/philosophy/taoism.htm
Taoists mainly eat the following foods:
-Rich food such as meat and wine
-Natural Foods
*Taoists are very worried about their diet and making sure they eat healthy and organic foods.
*In China, they use yen as their currency.
*In China, they grow rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, and oil seed. They trade their surplus crops for other things they can't grow or don't have in China.
*China is a communist country. People in charge, or dictators, can control your religion and much more. If they catch you practicing a different religion than they want you to, you will be punished. They don't have the freedoms we have in America.
These are some of the foods the eat in China:
-Chow Mein -Sweet and
-White rice sour pork
-Fried Rice -Stir Fry
-Tofu -Orange Chicken
Their written language is Chinese.
China still uses the Arabic Numeral writing system, but they also you the Chinese numeral writing system. It is a base-10 system. In China, they have characters for numbers 0-9, and for zero they can use a plain 0 as well.
The Myth of Pan Ku: Creation and the Universal Egg
In the beginning of time, there was only chaos. The elements and gases of the heavens and earth freely mingled, and the organizing principle was dormant. It lay dormant somewhere inside this elemental cosmos, awaiting the right moment to begin the transformation. The shape of this primeval mass was something like an egg.
For 18,000 years the universe remained in this state, until the incubation was finally complete, and the egg hatched. Then the heavens and the earth came into existence. The lighter, most pure substances floated upward and became the heavens. These elements were named yang. The heavier, more impure substances descended and became the earth. These were named yin.
From the same forces, a third, the giant Pan Ku, was born as well. As he grew, his sheer size divided the heavens and the earth. The giant lived for another 18,000 years. With the assistance of four creatures, a tortoise, a phoenix, a dragon, and a unicorn, he labored daily to mold the earth. Together they created the world as we know it today.
When Pan Ku finally died, his body was transformed. His left eye became the sun and his right eye became the moon. His blood became the rivers and oceans, his breath became the wind, his sweat became the rain, and his voice became the thunder. His flesh became the soil, and from the fleas living on his body, the human race sprang into being. In this way, the stage was set for the pageant of history to unfold.
The story of Pan Ku is the Chinese myth of creation. The ancient myths of creation from virtually all cultures show that at the root of human experience is the belief that our world has an organizing principle. After this creative force appears, everything else takes the form of opposing forces: heaven and earth, black and white, day and night, good and evil. These are the ideas of the yang and the yin, of the masculine and feminine. These opposing qualities are, by their fundamental natures, equal in all respects but forever separate entities.
Here we see the theme of the One giving rise to the two in the order of creation, and of a creator who, like Pan Ku, works with primordial substances to bring an entire world into being. This theme will expanded upon in the next section as we discuss the connection between Taoism and nature.
(the creation story is from http://people.howstuffworks.com/meaning-of-taoism1.htm)
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/china/philosophy/taoism.htm