cover. There are as many dialects as are provinces — Cantonese, Fookien, a, etc. Officially atheist because religion. is ed, many Chinese still live in the old fs of ancestor worship, geomancy, etc. of the oldest ethical and folk beliefs from China — Confucianism and likeancestor worship, acupuncture, icy, etc. Christianity (4%) is tolerated ase churches, but open evangelism practice are not allowed. Islamic ‘ties (2%) remain near Central Asia, iso suffer discrimination. The major cities are Beijing (Peking), pital, and Shanghai, the largest city. Origins and Myths. About 6,000 ago (the date of Noah’s flood), at the ‘of other cradles of civilization in sopotamia, the Indus Valley and Egypt, fy people also appeared in the Hwang valley. Chinese characters amazingly the stories found in the Bible’s Book enesis (see C.H. Kang and Ethel R. Discovery of Genesis, St. Louis, ouri, 1979). For example, the Chinese ter for “boat” tells of a vessel with people, a comment that coincides, gly enough, with the story of Noah, wife, three sons and their wives, in the The Chinese character for “to create” ins the strokes for dust, mud, a mouth, rent or life, and able to walk. This es Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God ed man of the dust from the ground, breathed into his nostril the breath of nd man became a living being able to k” The word for “garden” amazingly the he story of Adam and Eve. ese similarities suggest —_ that origins of the Chinese people bear te breath +*& + Oo a we enclosure garden 27 China remarkable parallels to the biblical story of Noah’s descendants. Earliest remains of hominids were found in Beijing in 1926, known as the “Peking Man.” The co-discoverer of Peking Man was French Jesuit paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who was inspired to write a book, Phenomenon of Man. Chinese myths clainy they came from three sages and five good emperors. The last of these mythical emperors founded a legendary dynasty called the Xia (Hsia, 2205-1766 BC). The Xia, and later the Shang dynasties, lived in the Huang river valley of central China. Recent discoveries also point to another ancient people, the Shu, in Sichuan, southwest China. Both the Shang and the Shu had a bronze age civilization, with various classes (nobles, warriors, artisans), religious rites and decorative art (Asiaweek, December 11, 1987). Thus began a long story of China’s tyranny, disunity, wars and revolutions. The Zhou — Warlords, Philosophers, Long but Weak Rulers, The Zhou was asty of China (Chou, 6 BC). The dyna: founded by Emperor Wu Wang, but he was more of a figurehead. The power really belonged to strong warlords. Although it was a weak empire (and perhaps dubious if it was an empire), the Zhou dynasty had three accom- plishments, namely: (1) the feudal system was consolidat- yest ruling dy ed © (2) the civil service was established; (3) Chinese philosophy flourished. The Age of Philosophers. China is famous for wise sages, and the study of the social relations of man (philosophy) began in ancient China, before the Greeks in the West.-Ancient China gave the world three outstanding philosophers during the Zhou S