In thousands of years of historical development, the Han nationality did not form a unified and powerful religious belief, which may be related to the autocratic imperial power and Confucian cultural tradition. After the Han dynasty, the ruling class advocated the way of Huang Lao and ruled by doing nothing. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, inaction became promising. At this time, a great event happened in the ideological field, which affected the history of China. Dong Zhongshu, a Confucian scholar, suggested to the emperor to "oust a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone" and praised Confucianism as orthodox thought. However, Confucianism itself cannot be a religion. Because Confucianism itself advocates "joining the WTO", Confucian scholars are familiar with Confucianism not to satisfy their spiritual beliefs, but to gain a foothold, thus influencing the politicians and reaching the realm of being sage inside and king outside. Confucius' guiding ideology in running a school is to cultivate talents for the government, not to pursue spiritual beliefs or to explore the mysteries of nature. Kong Qiu, the founder of Confucianism, was very proud when he was asked to be a county magistrate. Personal cultivation is also a means, and it is a means to enter the government to rule the country and level the world. The brilliant future of being an official and the happy attraction of the secular world have dispelled the pursuit of Confucian scholars in the spiritual field. Confucianism has gradually evolved into a political ideology-trying to serve the ruling class, which is one of them. Secondly, Confucianism advocated ancestor worship and stipulated a set of patriarchal ethics. This set of things similar to primitive religion was supported by the imperial power. As a substitute for religion, it has established a firewall against other religions among the Han people. Let's talk about Dong Zhongshu here. Dong Zhongshu is good at catering, infinitely raising the status of the emperor, and trying to belittle the status of the courtiers and the people. Listen to what he said: "The appointed king is also given by destiny." "You don't name is evil, I don't name is good. All good belongs to the king, and all evil belongs to the minister "(Yang Zun Yin Bei). "The people are also." Simply put, the people are blind and ignorant. The emperor was happy and named him Jiangdu Xiang. Moreover, under the decree of "ousting hundreds of schools and respecting Confucianism alone", only scholars are allowed to study Confucian classics, and doctors are only "doctors of the Five Classics", and officials are only selected from those who are familiar with Confucian classics. In this way, of course, every "man of insight" knows that if he wants to have a "future", he can only study Confucianism, and Confucianism will gradually occupy a dominant position. Especially after the imperial examination system began in Sui Dynasty, it lasted for more than 1000 years. Confucianism and autocratic imperial power were interdependent and excluded dissidents. Other ideologies are even more difficult to dominate. The autocratic imperial government also used Taoism, which was born and raised in China. In view of the Yellow Scarf Uprising, Cao Cao and Cao Pi were afraid that the peasant rebels would use religion to organize the revolution, and they adopted a two-handed policy towards early Taoism, on the one hand, restricting or suppressing it, on the other hand, using and reforming it. Cao Cao summoned some immortal alchemists who were influential in society, such as Zuo Ci, Shi Gan and Bian Jian. , to his side, so that he can not only seek health recipes to prolong his life, but also prevent them from encouraging people to rebel. Finally, the Taoist organization at that time was divided and disintegrated, and it was in chaos. Emperor Wendi of Sui adopted a policy of softening Taoism and built a Taoist temple. Yang Di worships Taoism more. During his reign, he built 10 Taoist temple in Chang 'an. In the seventh year of his great career (6 1 1), he personally summoned Wang, the master of the Maoshan Sect, and with respect for the emperor, ordered people to build a jade Qing altar in the capital (Chang 'an). The emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty inherited the policy of compatibility of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, and worshipped and supported Taoism. Song Zhenzong said that Zhao's ancestor Zhao was born in a temple in Yan 'an. Therefore, the following year (10 13), which was named as "the old gentleman of Taishang mixed with Yuan Di to go to Germany", was fortunate to worship the statue of Laozi in Bozhou Taiqing Palace. The Ming Dynasty was the first place of Taoism in politics. As early as 136 1 year, when Zhu Yuanzhang captured Nanchang, Zhang Pingchang, the 42nd descendant, sent an emissary to offer condolences, secretly told him to "lay down his life" and got in touch with Zhu. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, in the first year of Hongwu (1368), Zhang entered the DPRK to congratulate him, made him a true disciple and gave him a silver seal, ranking second. In the fifth year of Hongwu, Zhang was ordered to be in charge of Taoism forever. Since then, Zhengtianshi has risen to be the leader of various Taoist factions, ranking higher than Zhengtianshi in Yuan Dynasty. Taoism is in a glorious period in history (data comes from "China Taoist Association Network"). Why didn't Taoism become the unified religion of Han nationality? The author believes that Taoism aims at personal health and longevity and emphasizes personal cultivation. It doesn't take a positive attitude to adapt to the fierce social competition like Confucianism, but takes a negative attitude to avoid it. Secondly, Taoist thought is very mysterious, and Taoist classics are also very difficult for ordinary people to understand, which restricts its spread among illiterate people in China. Let me talk about Buddhism again. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China. Why didn't you get the orthodox status? This is because after Confucianism gained the favor of imperial power and occupied the orthodox position, it was difficult for Buddhism to change this situation in the later period, so it had to wait for the opportunity slowly. Until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, China's autocratic imperial power was gone, and the orthodox position of Confucianism was also lost. China was divided, and Buddhism took advantage of it. From then on, he gained a firm foothold in China, and succeeded mainly in those non-Han regimes in the north, and then broke through the Yangtze River and entered the south. However, once China restored the unified regime of Sui and Tang Dynasties, the orthodox position of Confucianism quickly recovered. After all, Confucianism is the isomorphism of autocratic imperial power. Since the Sui Dynasty, imperial examinations are still only about Confucian classics. Believing in Buddhism and Taoism has no future in politics, which restricts the spread of Buddhism and Taoism. Only those bureaucrats and literati who are temporarily frustrated in politics regard Buddhism and Taoism as a means of spiritual sustenance. After 1949, especially during the Cultural Revolution, religion and other traditional things suffered together. At that time, numerous temples, large and small, were destroyed all over the country, and national religious organizations banned activities. After the reform and opening up, the state brought order out of chaos, religious organizations began to resume their activities, temples around the country quickly recovered, and religious believers gradually increased. But according to my observation, the religious beliefs of the Han nationality are not as pure as those of other nationalities. Go to the Buddhist temple for a while, go to the Taoist temple for a while, and worship wherever there is a god. The gods of the three religions are also enshrined in temples in rural areas all over the country. On the one hand, it shows that the beliefs of the Han people are inclusive, on the other hand, it also shows that the Han people lack firm beliefs and hold pragmatic purposes for their beliefs, mostly in order to make profits in this world and solve immediate difficulties and other material pursuits. Believe everything, but believe nothing. Ask who is in charge and pay tribute to who works. Is it a religion to treat gods like government officials? A vivid portrayal of utilitarianism. To be honest, this is not a manifestation of faith. Thousands of years of autocratic imperial power in China destroyed the religious beliefs of the Han people. Confucian cultural tradition dispelled the religious beliefs of the Han people. There is no faith, no fear of gods, no principles, no conscience condemnation, and the rest is only fear of authoritarian regimes. How can a society with immediate interests as its code of conduct produce harmony? To tell the truth, if even the Confucian patriarchal ethics are broken, then the only link to maintain the unity and development of this nation and resist foreign enemies will be the authoritarian regime. The consequences are unimaginable. Is the most populous nation in the world as helpless as a pile of sand in front of foreign enemies? China was conquered more than once in history and almost became a colony of several imperialist countries in modern times. Is it thought-provoking? So I come to the conclusion that restoring the patriarchal clan system in traditional Confucian culture may be beneficial to restoring the ethical standards of this nation. Of course, the restoration of modern society and the development of Confucian traditional culture cannot prohibit freedom of belief. South Korea, which belongs to the Confucian cultural tradition with China, can be taken as an example. Confucian cultural traditions are well preserved in Korea and have not been swept away by capitalism; At the same time, more and more people believe in Christianity. They didn't say that they were going to die. On the contrary, South Korea's politics has been democratized and its economy has reached the level of developed countries. Therefore, freedom of religious belief is conducive to economic development and political democracy.