History of Taoism
Taoism began in 530-600 B.C in ancient China. The man who began this religion was Lao Tze. Lao was also a famous poet and philosopher. Most of the people following Taoism live in China. 20 million people follow Taoism in the year 2014, that's about 2 percent of China's population. Some holy sites for Taoism are sacred mountains (like the photo of the Hua Shan Mountain above) ,and fancy palaces to ordinary huts and caves. The Taoists have no book of worship exactly but a book to follow by, the Tao Te Ching which guides them through Taoism.
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Taoism gets its name from the word "Tao" ("the way".) Many of the Taoist practices came from the Shamanism religion of southern China. The founder got many of his poetry ideas form working as a librarian at the emperors palace. |