China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), in Asia, is the world's most populous state, with a population of

over1.381 billion.[15] The state is governed by its vanguard party based in the capital of Beijing.[16] It
exercises jurisdiction over
22
provinces,
five autonomous
regions,
four direct-controlled
municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong
Kong and Macau), and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.
Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second largest state by land area,[17] and
either thethird or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement.[i] China's landscape is vast and
diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the
wetter
south.
The
Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian
Shan mountain
ranges
separate
China
from south and central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, run from
the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500
kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow,East China, and South China seas.
China is a cradle of civilization, with its known history beginning with an ancient civilization one of the world's earliest
that flourished in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, China's political system was
based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties. Since 221 BCE, when the Qin Dynasty first conquered several
states to form a Chinese empire, the state has expanded, fractured and reformed numerous times. The Republic of
China (ROC) replaced the last dynasty in 1912, and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by
the Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the People's Republic of China
in Beijing on 1 October 1949, while the ROC government relocated to Taiwan with its present capital in Taipei. Both the
ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China.
China had the largest economy in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of
prosperity and decline.[18][19] Since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978, China has become one of the
world's fastest-growing major economies. As of 2014, it is the world's second-largest economy by nominal GDP and
largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods.
[20] China is a recognized nuclear weapons state and has the world's largest standing army and second-largest defense
budget.[21][22] The PRC has been a United Nations member since 1971, when it replaced the ROC as a permanent
member of the U.N. Security Council. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations,
including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BCIM and the G-20. China is
a great power and a major regional power within Asia, and has been characterized as a potential superpower.
The word "China" is thought to have been originally derived from the Sanskrit word Cna (), which is translated into
the Persianword Chn ().[27] Cna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahbhrata (5th century BCE)
and the Laws of Manu(2nd century BCE).[28] The word "China" itself was first recorded in 1516 in the journal of the
Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa.[29]The journal was translated and published in England in 1555.[30] The traditional
theory, proposed in the 17th century by Martino Martini and supported by many later scholars, is that the word China and
its earlier related forms are ultimately derived from the state of "Qin" ( ), the westernmost of the Chinese kingdoms
during the Zhou dynasty which unified China to form the Qin dynasty.[31] Other suggestions for the derivation of "China"
however exist.[28][32]
The official name of the modern state is the People's Republic of China (Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhnghu
Rnmn Gnghgu). The common Chinese names for the state are Zhnggu (Chinese: , from zhng, "central" or
"middle", and gu, "state" or "states", and in modern times, "nation") and Zhnghu (Chinese: ), although the state's
official name has been changed numerous times by successive dynasties and modern governments. The
term Zhnggu appeared in various ancient texts, such as the Classic of History of the 6th century BCE,[j] and in preimperial times it was often used as a cultural concept to distinguish the Huaxia tribes from perceived "barbarians". The
term, which can be either singular or plural, referred to the group of states or provinces in the central plain, but was not
used as a name for the state as a whole until the nineteenth century. The Chinese were not unique in regarding their state
as "central", with other civilizations having the same view of themselves.
Prehistory
Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China between 250,000 and 2.24 million years ago.[34] A
cave inZhoukoudian (near present-day Beijing) exhibits hominid fossils dated at between 680,000 and 780,000 BCE.
[35] The fossils are ofPeking Man, an example of Homo erectus who used fire.[36] Fossilised teeth of Homo
sapiens dating to 125,00080,000 BCE have been discovered in Fuyan Cave in Dao County, Hunan.[37] Chinese protowriting existed in Jiahu around 7000 BC,[38] Dadiwan from 5800 BC to 5400 BC, Damaidi around 6000
BC [39] and Banpo dating from the 5th millennium BC. Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (7th
millennium BC) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system.[38]

Early dynastic rule

Further information: Dynasties in Chinese history

According to Chinese tradition, the first dynasty was the Xia, which emerged around 2100 BCE.[40] The dynasty was
considered mythical by historians until scientific excavations found early Bronze Age sites at Erlitou, Henan in 1959.[41] It
remains unclear whether these sites are the remains of the Xia Dynasty or of another culture from the same period.
[42] The succeeding Shang dynasty is the earliest to be confirmed by contemporary records.[43] The Shang ruled the
plain of the Yellow River in eastern China from the 17th to the 11th century BCE.[44] Their oracle bone script (from
c. 1500 BCE) [45][46] represents the oldest form of Chinese writing yet found,[47] and is a direct ancestor of
modern Chinese characters.[48] The Shang were conquered by the Zhou, who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries
BCE, though centralized authority was slowly eroded by feudal warlords. Many independent states eventually emerged
from the weakened Zhou state and continually waged war with each other in the 300-year Spring and Autumn Period, only
occasionally deferring to the Zhou king. By the time of the Warring States period of the 5th3rd centuries BCE, there were
seven powerful sovereign states in what is now China, each with its own king, ministry and army.
Imperial China
The Warring States period ended in 221 BCE after the state of Qin conquered the other six kingdoms and established the
first unified Chinese state. Qin Shi Huang, the emperor of Qin, proclaimed himself "First Emperor" ( ) and imposed
reforms throughout China, notably the forced standardization of Chinese characters, measurements, length of cart axles,
and currency. His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes, incorporating the Lingnan area into China.[49] The Qin
dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after Qin Shi Huang's death, as its harsh legalist and authoritarian policies
led to widespread rebellion.[50][51]
The subsequent Han dynasty ruled China between 206 BCE and 220 CE, and created a lasting Han cultural
identity among its populace that has endured to the present day.[50][51] The Han Dynasty expanded the empire's territory
considerably with military campaigns reaching southern Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and Central Asia, and also helped
establish the Silk Road in Central Asia. Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world. [52] The
Han Dynasty adopted Confucianism, a philosophy developed in the Spring and Autumn period, as its official state
ideology. Despite the Han's official abandonment of Legalism, the official ideology of the Qin, Legalist institutions and
policies remained and formed the basis of the Han government.[53]
The Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the sedentary agricultural
regions of the Chinese interior from incursions by nomadicpastoralists of the northern steppes.
After the collapse of Han, a period of disunion known as the period of the Three Kingdoms followed.[54] The brief
unification of the Jin dynasty was broken by the uprising of the Five Barbarians. In 581 CE, China was reunited under
the Sui. However, the Sui Dynasty declined following its defeat in the GoguryeoSui War (598614).[55][56]
Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese economy, technology and culture entered a golden age.
[57] After the campaigns against the Turks, China returned control of the Western Regions and reopened the Silk Road
during the flourishing age of Tang dynasty,[58] which was devastated and weakened by the An Shi Rebellion in the 8th
century.[59] The Song dynasty was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first
Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along
with the sea trade.[60] Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the population of China doubled in size to around 100 million
people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant
food surpluses. The Song dynasty also saw a revival of Confucianism, in response to the growth of Buddhism during the
Tang,[61] and a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and porcelain were brought to new levels of
maturity and complexity.[62][63] However, the military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jurchen Jin
dynasty. In 1127, Emperor Huizong of Song and the capital Bianjing were captured during the JinSong Wars, remnants
of the Song retreated to southern China.[64]
In the 13th century, China was gradually conquered by the Mongol Empire. In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai
Khan established the Yuan dynasty; the Yuan conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol
invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in
1300.[65] A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Yuan Dynasty in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty. Under
the Ming Dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and
prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period thatZheng He led voyages throughout
the world, reaching as far as Africa.[66] In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to
Beijing. With the budding of capitalism, philosophers such as Wang Yangming further critiqued and expanded NeoConfucianism with concepts of individualism and equality of four occupations.[67] The scholar-official stratum became a
supporting force of industry and commerce in the tax boycott movements, which, together with the famines and the wars
against Japanese invasions of Koreaand Manchu invasions led to an exhausted treasury.[68]
In 1644, Beijing was captured by a coalition of peasant rebel forces led by Li Zicheng. The last Ming Chongzhen
Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing dynasty then allied with Ming dynasty general Wu
Sangui and overthrew Li's short-lived Shun dynasty, and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new
capital of the Qing Dynasty.

End of dynastic rule

The Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912, was the last imperial dynasty of China. As a conquest dynasty, it
successively conquered the Ming loyalists and Dzungar Khanate, adding Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang into the empire,
[69] and strengthened the centralized autocracy to crackdown on anti-Qing sentiment. The Haijin ("sea ban") and the
ideological control as represented by theliterary inquisition caused social and technological stagnation.[70][71] In the 19th
century, the dynasty experienced Western imperialism following the First Opium War (183942) and the Second Opium
War (185660) with Britain and France. China was forced to sign unequal treaties, pay compensation, open treaty ports,
allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to the British[72]under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.
The First Sino-Japanese War (189495) resulted in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula, as well as the
cession of Taiwan to Japan.[73]
The Qing dynasty also began experiencing internal unrest in which millions of people died. In the 1850s and 1860s, the
failed Taiping Rebellion ravaged southern China. Other major rebellions included the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars (185567),
the Nian Rebellion (185168), the Miao Rebellion (185473), the Panthay Rebellion (185673) and the Dungan
Revolt (186277). The initial success of the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s was frustrated by the series of
military defeats in the 1880s and 1890s.
In the 19th century, the great Chinese Diaspora began. Losses due to emigration were added to by conflicts and
catastrophes such as the Northern Chinese Famine of 187679, in which between 9 and 13 million people died.[74] In
1898, the Guangxu Emperor drafted a reform plan to establish a modern constitutional monarchy, but these plans were
thwarted by the Empress Dowager Cixi. The ill-fated anti-Western Boxer Rebellion of 18991901 further weakened the
dynasty. Although Cixi sponsored a program of reforms, the Xinhai Revolution of 191112 brought an end to the Qing
dynasty and established the Republic of China.
Republic of China (191249)
On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (the KMT or Nationalist
Party) was proclaimed provisional president.[75] However, the presidency was later given to Yuan Shikai, a former Qing
general who in 1915 proclaimed himselfEmperor of China. In the face of popular condemnation and opposition from his
own Beiyang Army, he was forced to abdicate and reestablish the republic.[76]
After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented. Its Beijing-based government was internationally
recognized but virtually powerless; regional warlords controlled most of its territory.[77][78] In the late 1920s, the
Kuomintang, under Chiang Kai-shek, the then Principal of the Republic of China Military Academy, was able to reunify the
country under its own control with a series of deft military and political manoeuvrings, known collectively as the Northern
Expedition.[79][80] The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political tutelage", an
intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's San-min program for transforming China into a
modern democratic state.[81][82] The political division in China made it difficult for Chiang to battle the Communists,
against whom the Kuomintang had been warring since 1927 in the Chinese Civil War. This war continued successfully for
the Kuomintang, especially after the Communists retreated in the Long March, until Japanese aggression and the
1936 Xi'an Incident forced Chiang to confront Imperial Japan.[83]
The Second Sino-Japanese War (19371945), a theatre of World War II, forced an uneasy alliance between the
Kuomintang and the Communists. Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population; in
all, as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died.[84] An estimated 200,000 Chinese were massacred in the city of Nanjing
alone during the Japanese occupation.[85] During the war, China, along with the UK, the US and the Soviet Union, were
referred to as "trusteeship of the powerful" [86] and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in the Declaration by United
Nations.[87][88] Along with the other three great powers, China was one of the four majorAllies of World War II, and was
later considered one of the primary victors in the war.[89][90] After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Taiwan, including
the Pescadores, was returned to Chinese control. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The
continued distrust between the Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. In 1947, constitutional
rule was established, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never
implemented in mainland China.[91]
People's Republic of China (1949present)
Main article: History of the People's Republic of China
Major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party in control of most of mainland China, and
the Kuomintang retreating offshore, reducing the ROC's territory to only Taiwan, Hainan, and their surrounding islands. On
1 October 1949, Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of
China.[92] In 1950, the People's Liberation Armysucceeded in capturing Hainan from the ROC[93] and incorporating
Tibet.[94] However, remaining Nationalist forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s.
[95]
Mao's regime consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the land reform with between 1 and 2
million landlords executed.[96]Under its leadership, China developed an independent industrial system and its own

nuclear weapons.[97] The Chinese population almost doubled from around 550 million to over 900 million. [98] However,
Mao's Great Leap Forward, a large-scale economic and social reform project, resulted in an estimated 45 million
deaths between 1958 and 1961, mostly from starvation.[99] In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution,
sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval which lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971,
the PRC replaced the Republic of China in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security
Council.[100]
In 1976, Mao died. The Gang of Four was quickly arrested and held responsible for the excesses of the Cultural
Revolution. In 1978 Deng Xiaoping took power and instituted significant economic reforms. The Communist Party
loosened governmental control over citizens' personal lives, and the communes were gradually disbanded in favour of
private land leases. This marked China's transition from a planned economy to a mixed economy with an increasingly
open market environment.[101] China adopted its currentconstitution on 4 December 1982. In 1989, the violent
suppression of student protests in Tiananmen Square brought condemnation and sanctions against the Chinese
government from various countries.[102]
Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji led the nation in the 1990s. Under their administration, China's economic
performance pulled an estimated 150 million peasants out of poverty and sustained an average annual gross domestic
product growth rate of 11.2%.[103][104] The country formally joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and
maintained its high rate of economic growth under Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao's leadership in the 2000s. However, rapid
growth also severely impacted the country's resources and environment,[105][106] and caused major social displacement.
[107][108] Living standards continued to improve rapidly despite the late-2000s recession, but centralized political control
remained tight.[109]
Preparations for a decadal Communist Party leadership change in 2012 were marked by factional disputes and political
scandals.[110] During China's 18th National Communist Party Congress in November 2012, Hu Jintao was replaced
as General Secretary of the Communist Party by Xi Jinping.[111][112] Under Xi, the Chinese government began largescale efforts to reform its economy,[113][114] which has suffered from structural instabilities and slowing growth.[115][116]
[117][118] The XiLi Administration also announced major reforms to the one-child policy and prison system.
Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism and conservative philosophies. For
much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the
prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han Dynasty.[446] The literary emphasis of the exams
affected
the
general
perception
of
cultural
refinement
in
China,
such
as
the
belief
that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long
emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective.[24] Examinations and aculture of
merit remain greatly valued in China today.[447]
The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born into the traditional imperial order, but were influenced by
the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such
as rural land tenure, sexism, and the Confucian system of education, while preserving others, such as the family structure
and culture of obedience to the state. Some observers see the period following the establishment of the PRC in 1949 as a
continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others claim that the Communist Party's rule has damaged the
foundations of Chinese culture, especially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s,
where many aspects of traditional culture were destroyed, having been denounced as "regressive and harmful" or
"vestiges of feudalism". Many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, art,
literature, and performing arts like Peking opera,[448] were altered to conform to government policies and propaganda at
the time. Access to foreign media remains heavily restricted.[449]
Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as being integral to
Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese nationalism and the end of the Cultural Revolution, various forms of traditional
Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival,[450][451] and folk and variety
art in particular have sparked interest nationally and even worldwide.[452] China is now the third-most-visited country in
the world,[453] with 55.7 million inbound international visitors in 2010.[454] It also experiences an enormous volume
of domestic tourism; an estimated 740 million Chinese holidaymakers travelled within the country in October 2012 alone.
[455]

Literature
Chinese literature is based on the literature of the Zhou dynasty.[456] Concepts covered within the Chinese classic
texts present a wide range of thoughts and subjects including calendar, military, astrology, herbology, geography and
many others.[457] Some of the most important early texts include the I Ching and the Shujing within the Four Books and
Five Classics which served as the Confucian authoritative books for the state-sponsored curriculum in dynastic era.

[458] Inherited from the Classic of Poetry, classical Chinese poetrydeveloped to its floruit during the Tang dynasty. Li
Bai and Du Fu opened the forking ways for the poetic circles through romanticism and realism respectively.[459] Chinese
historiography began with the Shiji, the overall scope of the historiographical tradition in China is termed the Twenty-Four
Histories, which set a vast stage for Chinese fictions along with Chinese mythology and folklore.[460] Pushed by a
burgeoning citizen class in the Ming dynasty, Chinese classical fiction rose to a boom of the historical, town and gods and
demons fictionsas represented by the Four Great Classical Novels which include Water Margin, Romance of the Three
Kingdoms, Journey to the Westand Dream of the Red Chamber.[461] Along with the wuxia fictions of Jin Yong,[462] it
remains an enduring source of popular culture in theEast Asian cultural sphere.[463]
In the wake of the New Culture Movement after the end of the Qing dynasty, Chinese literature embarked on a new era
with written vernacular Chinese for ordinary citizens. Hu Shih and Lu Xun were pioneers in modern literature.[464] Various
literary genres, such as misty poetry, scar literature and the xungen literature, which is influenced by magic realism,
[465] emerged following the Cultural Revolution. Mo Yan, a xungen literature author, was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 2012.
Chinese Literature
Brief Introduction
To many Westerners, Chinese literature remains a hidden seam in the rich strata of Chinese culture. As a matter of fact, it
is a treasure of a very considerable number of brilliant and profound works as each dynasty, in the long history of China,
has passed down its legacy of magnificent events and works. For 3500 years, they have woven a variety of genres and
forms encompassing poetry, essays, fiction and drama; each in its own way reflecting the social climate of its day through
the high spirit of art. Chinese literature has its own values and tastes, its own reigning cultural tradition and its own critical
system of theory.
Chronologically, it can be divided into four main periods: classical, modern, contemporary and the present-age literature.
Classical Literature
It refers to the earliest period and covers works from three thousands years ago to the late Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911),
and is a virtually unbroken strand enduring dynastic changes. Written in an ancient form of language that is very different
from present day Chinese, it needs to be carefully studied to be understood. Since it was nearly always developed under
the reign of centralized and unified government, it is imbued with the thoughts of a culture that embraced slavery and a
feudal society. It was steeped in an enclosed environment that hardly had any real links with religion or least of all the
literature of foreign cultures.
It refers to the periord from the Opium War in 1840 to the May Fourth Moverment in 1919. As the decadent reign of the
Qing failed to inspire the minds of people, the literary forms had remained unchanged; till the Opium War in 1840. Then
they absorbed the impact of western thoughts as foreigners poured in China and established their colonies. Novels,
poetry and other works began to appear with a theme of patriotism and a revelation of social ills.
Contemporary Literature
It spanned the period from 1919 to the foundation of modern in 1949 and took on a new vigor, despite the fact that
Chinese was in the throws of checkered and complicated times. This period was distinctive as it brought into being a new
and revised literary language, form, content and skills allowing it to evolve into an independent and open art available to
the whole of society. It attached great attention to people's lives and a future with strong political tendencies. Influenced by
the tide of the world literature, it provided wide and amiable communication between writers and readers.
Present-Age Literature
It is that which has evolved since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. During this time, there was a logjam
as a consequence of the Cultural Revolution that lasted for nearly 10 years. That era is now long past and we now have a
favorable turn on events and a great number of responsible writers deepen the literary forms and content. Nowadays
literature prospers. As the Chinese nation is a racial mix of Han people together with 55 other ethnic groups, literature
reflects this. The various ethnic groups have contributed greatly in this field.
Ancient literature is a precious cultural heritage of China's several thousand years of civilization. The Book of Songs, a
collection of 305 folk ballads of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period, compiled in the sixth
century B.C., is China's earliest anthology of poetry.
Qu Yuan of the Warring States Period, China's first great poet, write Li Sao (The Lament), and extended lyric poem. The
Book of Songs and Li Sao are regarded as classics in Chinese literary history. Later, different literary styles developed in
subsequent dynasties.
There were pre-Qin prose, magnificent Han fu (rhymed prose), and the yuefu folk songs of the end of the Han Dynasty.
Records of the Historian, written by Sima Qian of the Han Dynasty, is respected as a model of biographical literature, and
The Peacock Flies to the Southeast represents the magnificent yuefu folk songs. These are all well known among the
Chinese people.

The Wei and Jin Dynasties (220-420) were a great period for the production of poetry. The poems written by Cao Cao, a
statesman and man of letters of that time, and by his sons Cao Pi and Cai Zhi, are fervent and vigorous. They are
outstanding forerunners of the progressive literature of later generations. The Tang Dynasty gave birth to a great number
of men of letters. The Complete Tang Poems is an anthology of more than 50,000 poems.
Representative poets include Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi, who are the pride of the Chinese people. The Song Dynasty is
well
known
for
its
ci
(lyric).
Song
lyricists
may
be
divided
into
two groups. The first, best represented by Liu Yong and Li Qingzhao, is known as the "gentle school"; the second, the
"bold and unconstrained school," is best represented by Su Shi and Xin Qiji.
The most notable achievement of Yuan Dynasty literature was the zaju, poetic drama set of music. Snow in Midsummer
by celebrated playwright Guan Hanqing and The Western Chamber written by another zaju master, Wang Shipu, are
masterpieces of the ancient drama.
The Ming and Qing dynasties saw the development of the novel. The Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, Outlaws of the
Mars by Shi Nai'an, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, and A Dream of Red Mansions by Cao Xueqin are the four
masterpieces produced in this form during this period. They have been celebrated for centuries for their rich historical and
cultural connotations and unique style.
The new cultural movement that emerged in the 1920s was an anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movement. Progressive
writers, represented by Lu Xun, gave birth to modern Chinese literature. The most outstanding representative works of
this era are the novels The Diary of a Madman and The True Story of Ah Q by Lu Xun, the poetry anthology The
Goddesses by Guo Moruo, the novel Midnight by Mao Dun, the trilogy novels Family, Spring and Autumn by Ba Jin, the
novel Camel Xiangzi by Lao She, and the plays Thunderstorm and Sunrise by Cao Yu.
The founding of New China in 1949 serves as a signpost for the beginning of contemporary Chinese literature. Works of
this period reflect the hard struggle and tremendous sacrifices during the long War of Liberation, and eulogize the
selflessness displayed in the building of socialist New China.
The representative works are the novels Red Crag by Luo Guangbin and Yang Yiyan, Song of Youthby Yang Mo, The
Hurricane by Zhou Libo and Builders of a New Life by Liu Qing. During the 10-year "cultural revolution" (1966-1976),
literature was deliberately hamstrung, leaving a desolate literary wasteland.
But since the reform and opening to the outside world started in 1978, literary creation has entered a new period. Some
works of the early period of the new era mainly described the emotional wounds the people suffered during the "cultural
revolution." The main works include The Wound by Lu Xinhua, The Blood-stained Magnolia by Cong Weizi, Mimosa by
Zhang Xianliang, A Small Town Called Hibiscus by Gu Hua and The Snowstorm Tonight by Liang Xiansheng.
Some works are called works "seeking the roots," for example, Red Sorghum by Mo Yan, Black Steedby Zhang
Chengzhi and Troubled Life by ChiLi. In recent years, a diversifying tendency has appeared in literary works. Those with
historical themes include The Young Son of Heaven by Lin Li, Zeng Guofan by Tang Haoming, Emperor Yongzheng by
Eryue He and Mending the Crack in the Sky by Huo Da. Making a Decision by Zhang Ping and Farewell to the Bitter
Winter by Zou Yuezhao reflect current real life.
Buddhism
Basic Beliefs and Practices
The basic doctrines of early Buddhism, which remain common to all Buddhism, include the "four noble truths": existence is
suffering ( dukhka ); suffering has a cause, namely craving and attachment ( trishna ); there is a cessation of suffering,
which is nirvana; and there is a path to the cessation of suffering, the "eightfold path" of right views, right resolve, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Buddhism characteristically
describes reality in terms of process and relation rather than entity or substance.
Experience is analyzed into five aggregates ( skandhas ). The first, form ( rupa ), refers to material existence; the following
four, sensations ( vedana ), perceptions ( samjna ), psychic constructs (samskara ), and consciousness ( vijnana ), refer to
psychological processes. The central Buddhist teaching of non-self ( anatman ) asserts that in the five aggregates no
independently existent, immutable self, or soul, can be found. All phenomena arise in interrelation and in dependence on
causes and conditions, and thus are subject to inevitable decay and cessation. The casual conditions are defined in a 12membered chain called dependent origination (pratityasamutpada ) whose links are: ignorance, predisposition,
consciousness, name-form, the senses, contact, craving, grasping, becoming, birth, old age, and death, whence again
ignorance.
With this distinctive view of cause and effect, Buddhism accepts the pan-Indian presupposition of samsara, in which living
beings are trapped in a continual cycle of birth-and-death, with the momentum to rebirth provided by one's previous
physical and mental actions (see karma). The release from this cycle of rebirth and suffering is the total transcendence
called nirvana.

From the beginning, meditation and observance of moral precepts were the foundation of Buddhist practice. The five basic
moral precepts, undertaken by members of monastic orders and the laity, are to refrain from taking life, stealing, acting
unchastely, speaking falsely, and drinking intoxicants. Members of monastic orders also take five additional precepts: to
refrain from eating at improper times, from viewing secular entertainments, from using garlands, perfumes, and other
bodily adornments, from sleeping in high and wide beds, and from receiving money. Their lives are further regulated by a
large number of rules known as the Pratimoksa. The monastic order (sangha) is venerated as one of the "three jewels,"
along with the dharma, or religious teaching, and the Buddha. Lay practices such as the worship of stupas (burial mounds
containing relics) predate Buddhism and gave rise to later ritualistic and devotional practices.
Buddhism has changed and adapted to every culture it encountered after it began in the north of India. As
such, Buddhism practices change depending upon the tradition and society. Tolerance is a key Buddhist virtue, whilst
maintaining integrity to ones core beliefs. Some rituals are important if only to define ones motivation and give expression
and definition to ones religion. There is even a growing western Buddhism, which can be said to encourage
environmental acts, respect for human rights, and social equality. However, below we will outline some of the more well
known Buddhism practices from traditionally Buddhist cultures.
Most Buddhist practices have the central aim of avoiding future karmic problems (by avoiding harming others), karmic
benefit (through helping others), as well as various practices and ritualized activities that focus the mind, help to purify it
and to assist in ones attainment of enlightenment and ridding of suffering for oneself and others.
Meditation
Perhaps the key Buddhist practice, it is central to most traditions, and the only means to enlightenment for some. An
excellent introduction to Buddhist meditation practices is available at MeditationInstructions.com (coming soon). The
benefits of meditation are many, including physical and mental health, relaxation, improved relaxation and mental ability,
and happiness. It is primarily the ability to understand and control the mind and its use for practices that lead to
enlightenment that is considered the most important.
Prayers
The position of prayer in Buddhism varies from tradition to tradition. A Buddhist solution to this may be to try each
approach, and see which not only makes intellectual sense, but which leads to a better understanding of oneself and
benefits to ones well being.
In Tibet particularly, prayer to various deities (influenced by the indigenous religion Bon, as well as various Indian
practices) featured prominently, with prayer focusing the mind. With the merit of a prayer affecting ones future reality,
and the number of times a prayer is said being important, Tibetans have developed machinery to magnify the quantity of
prayers. Prayer wheels can contain a prayer written down many thousands of times turning a wheel thus has a
magnified physical or mental effect. Similarly, prayer flags activate their written prayers with each flapping of the wind,
sending their good wishes far and wide.
In contrast, Therevada emphasizes the fact that Buddhism does not posit the existence of a separate creator god, and
that the Buddha himself discouraged his own worship. Indeed, Therevada believes the Buddha is outside of any call of
prayer and it is wrong practice to pray to the Buddha (Tibetan Buddhism, by contrast, equates enlightenment with a
heightened, intimate awareness of all beings). In both traditions, various rituals allows one to reflect on the qualities of the
Buddha, and all of these practices are mutually reinforcing in internalizing true Buddhist beliefs.
Rituals have a cumulative affect of training ones mind and systematizing ones practice. The act of bowing and prostrating
is a challenge to ones egoism itself and may be beneficial merely on that level.
Chanting
Chanting is a common sound in Buddhist communities from Zen monasteries in Japan, to communities in Laos, Thailand,
and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Originating in India, where writing was rare, chanting enabled important texts to be
passed from person to person. Later, the ritual of chanting was found to be a useful way to focus the mind, and remember
and internalize key Buddhist ideas. In some communities it may even be said to have a protective aspect, with Buddhists
chanting during important life events, or during or before times of danger or otherwise personal importance.
As with all of these rituals, the benefit is seen as less the result of an external agent, and more in the personal effort and
resulting benefits from focusing ones good intentions, motivations, and purifying the mind from wrong views and
understandings.
Vegetarianism
Many Buddhists are vegetarian, however it must be said that the Buddha himself did not prohibit the eating of meat. Many
monasteries still serve meat today, and in Tibet, a high protein and fat diet was important in such a cold, often snowcovered environment. Buddhism acknowledges that rigid rules are often counterproductive, individual medical situations
mean that vegetarianism may not always be the best course of action for ones spiritual practice. However one is not
immune from the karmic consequences of eating meat, particularly if it is killed for you. Some choose to eat only ethically

raised and well treated animals, offer prayers and thanks to the deceased creature, or limit meat eating to a minimum. As
always, Buddhas teachings leave ultimate responsibility with the individual, and so do not remove the obligation of finding
ones own answer to the wisest course of action for a person to follow.
Coming soon, an outline of other Buddhist practices, including symbolic hand gestures or Mudras, the reciting of Mantras
or sacred sounds, making offerings, lighting incense and candles, making pilgrimage, and other practices surrounding the
Buddha and various teachers and deities. There is also set Buddhism Marriage and funeral practices, however these are
later inventions, culturally dependent and not traceable back to the time of the Buddha.
Zoroastrianism, although the smallest of the major religions of the world in the number of its adherents, is historically one
of the most important. Its roots are in the proto-Indo-European spirituality that also produced the religions of India. It was
the first of the worlds religions to be founded by an inspired prophetic reformer. It was influential on Mahayana Buddhism
and especially on the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. To the latter three, Zoroastrianism
bequeathed such concepts as a cosmic struggle between right and wrong, the primacy of ethical choice in human life,
monotheism, a celestial hierarchy of spiritual beings (angels, archangels) that mediate between God and humanity, a
judgment for each individual after death, the coming of a Messiah at the end of this creation, and an apocalypse
culminating in the final triumph of Good at the end of the historical cycle. Editor
History
ZOROASTER WAS THE PERSIAN PROPHET on whose teachings the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism is based.The
name by which he is commonly known in the West is from the Greek form of his original name,Zarathushtra, which means
Shining Light.
Date of Zoroaster
Scholars differ considerably about the date of Zoroasters birth. Greek sources place Zoroaster at 6000 years before the
death of Plato, that is, about 6350 B.C. Archeological remains in Turfan, China, state that Zoroaster was born 2715 years
after the Great Storm, placing his birth at 1767 B.C. The latest dates for his life come from Persian writings that place him
258 years before Alexander, that is, about 600 years B.C. Many other scholars place Zoroasters birth between 1500 and
1200 B.C.
According to Annie Besant in her lectures on Four Great Religions, the Esoteric Tradition dates the beginning of
Zoroastrian teachings far earlier than any of those dates. That Tradition is based on two kinds of records. First, the Great
Brotherhood has preserved the ancient writings, stored in underground temples and libraries. There are people today and
have been those in the past who have been permitted to set eyes on these ancient writings. Second, there are the
imperishable records of the Akasha itself.
According to these records, Zoroastrianism and Hinduism are the two oldest religions of our modern humanity. The
Iranians, in their first migration into Iran, were led by the great teacher Zoroaster, who belonged to the same mighty
Brotherhood as Manu of the Indic tradition and was a high Initiate of the same Great Lodge, taught by the same primordial
Teachers, called the Sons of the Fire. From this great teacher came down a line of prophets, who superintended the early
development of the Iranian peoples and all of whom bore the name Zoroaster. The Zoroaster the Greeks refer to may
have been the seventh Zoroaster in this line of prophets.
Birthplace of Zoroaster
Scholars are equally divergent about the birthplace of Zoroaster. They suggest such locations aseastern Iran, Azerbaijan
(south of the Caspian Sea), Balkh (the capital of Bactria, in present dayAfghanistan), Chorasmia and Sogdia (in presentday Tajikhistan), or near the Aral Sea (in present-day Khazakhstan).
Achaemenian Empire
Zoroastrianism flourished during three great Persian Empires. The first was the Achaemenian Empire, founded by Cyrus
the Great (ca. 585 529 B.C.). He established an empire that extended from Asia Minor in the west to India in the east
and from Armenia in the north to Egypt in the south. Cyrus showed great respect for the nations he had conquered. He
allowed them to govern themselves and to follow their own religious beliefs. When he invaded Babylon, he set the Jewish
captives free to return to their country, Judea, and even provided them with resources to rebuild the Temple of Solomon,
which had been razed by the Babylonians. For these deeds, Cyrus is mentioned in the Old Testament (Isaiah 45.1 -3) as a
savior and as the Anointed One.
The Achaemenians had constant conflict with the Greeks in the west of their empire. Darius, a successor of Cyrus,
dispatched 600 ships and a large land force to capture Athens. The Achaemenians were on the Plain of Marathon, and
their ships were to sneak towards Athens and surprise the city. When the Greeks heard of the Persians plan, they sent
one of their runners, Phillippe, to Athens to warn the citizens there. The distance from Marathon to Athens was 26 miles
and this run has been immortalized in the Marathon races held all over the world. The Persians had to withdraw from that
battle.

The Achaemenian Empire came to a close with the rise of Alexander, who in 334 B.C. conquered Persia, plundered the
treasury, and burned the libraries in Persepolis. Many of the priests were killed, and these priests were considered to be
the living libraries of the religion, since they had committed to memory most of the sacred texts. Alexander is thought of as
the Great by the Greeks, Egyptians, and others but is known as the Accursed by the Persians. Alexander died young,
and the Greek-based Seleucid Empire, which succeeded him, lasted a relatively short time.
Parthian Empire
About 250 B.C., the Parthian tribe from northeast Iran overthrew the Greeks and established an empire that was just as
extensive as the Achaemenian Empire. The Parthians were also Zoroastrians and were also tolerant of the religious
beliefs of conquered lands. During the approximately five hundred years of the Parthian Empire, there were continuous
battles with the Romans. The Roman Empire extended to Scotland in the west. However, in the east, they were stopped
by the Parthians. The Romans never took to Zoroastrianism but instead practiced Mithraism, in which the deities Mithra
and Anahita were worshipped. The Romans established Mithraic temples throughout the western part of their empire,
many of which are still standing today. During the five hundred years of the Parthian Empire, Zoroastrianism was quite
unregulated, and hence differing forms of the religion developed.
Sasanian Empire
To counteract the resulting chaotic state of the religion, the Sasanians (who were also Zoroastrians) rose up against the
Parthians and overthrew them in 225 A.D. The Sasanians wanted to unify Zoroastrianism and to establish rules about
what Zoroastrianism was and what it was not. A High Priest was established, who was next to the King in authority.
Zoroastrianism was made the state religion of the Empire, and conversions were actively made to counteract the
proselytizing zeal of Christians. This missionary activity shows that Zoroastrianism was really a universal religion and not
an ethnic religion, limited to one people.
Later History
The Sasanian Empire lasted till 641 A.D., when the Arabs invaded Persia and established Islam in the land. The new
regime gave the local population three choices: conversion to Islam, payment of a heavy tax imposed on nonbelievers
(called the Jizya tax), or death. The Arabs mistreated the Zoroastrians in many ways and made life very difficult for those
who chose not to convert. Consequently, in 936 A.D., a group of Zoroastrians from the town of Sanjan in the Khorasan
Province of Iran made their way south to the port of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, from where they set sail for India. They
spent nineteen years on the island of Div before making final landfall on the western coast of Gujerat.
These immigrants to India became known as the Parsis (that is, those from the Persian province of Pars). The Parsis
prospered in Gujerat and later on began to move out to other parts of India. They particularly excelled and prospered
when the British established themselves in India.
Meanwhile, the Zoroastrians left behind in Iran continued to suffer under very adverse conditions. When the prosperous
Parsis in India heard of the woeful plight of their coreligionists, they dispatched emissaries to Iran, notably Maneckji
Hataria in 1854. He spent many years in Iran, rebuilding educational and religious institutions and helping the Zoroastrian
community there to regain its social strength. In 1882, he was successful in persuading the Islamic Qajar King to abolish
the burden of the Jizya tax.
Today, the Zoroastrian community in Iran is doing well and has an unusually high number of successful people. Within the
past few decades, there has been an emigration of Zoroastrians from Iran and India to the Western world. These two
communities, the Iranian and Indian, are now united, go to the same fire temples, intermarry, and prosper in harmony.
Beliefs
Cosmology
In Zoroastrian cosmology, the head of the manifested universe is Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord. He is the universal and
pervasive source and fountain of all life. But behind or beyond Ahura Mazda is Zarvan Akarana, Boundless Time and
Boundless Space, the unmanifested absolute from which the manifested Logos, Ahura Mazda, came forth.
Ahura Mazda is depicted in the Zoroastrian scriptures as a kind of trinity: Praise to thee, Ahura Mazda, threefold before
other creations. From Ahura Mazda came a duality: the twin spirits of Spenta Mainyu (the Holy or Bountiful Spirit) and
Angra Mainyu (the Destructive or Opposing Spirit). The twin spirits are popularly thought of as good and evil, but rather
they are two principles that represent all the opposites of life. In her lecture on Zoroastrianism, Annie Besant has this to
say of them:
Good and evil may be said to only come into existence when man in his evolution develops the power of knowledge and
of choice; the original duality is not of good and evil, but is of spirit and matter, of reality and non-reality, of light and
darkness, of construction and destruction, the two poles between which the universe is woven and without which no
universe can be. . . . There are two names again that give us the clue to the secret, the increaser and the destroyer, the

one from whom the life is ever pouring forth, and the other the material side which belongs to form, and which is ever
breaking up in order that life may go on into higher expression.
After the trinity of Ahura Mazda and the twin spirits that emanated from him is a sevenfold expression of the divine reality.
These seven are called the Amesha Spentas or Holy or Bountiful Immortals, the Highest Intelligences. They are
sometimes thought of as archangels and sometimes as aspects of Ahura Mazda himself. These seven mighty
intelligences are also guardians of various kingdoms of nature. They are as follows:
Ahura Mazda himself. Just as the One Wise Lord is part of a trinity including also the twin spirits of bountiful increase and
of destructive opposition, so too is he one of the sevenfold intelligences. The One Lord is present everywhere.
Vohu Manah, Good Mind. It is divine wisdom, illumination, and lovethe mental capacity to comprehend the next one of
the Amesha Spentas, Asha Vahishta. Vohu Manah is associated especially with the animal kingdom.
Asha Vahishta, Highest Truth. Often translated as righteousness, the word asha is etymologically the same as the
Sanskrit term rta, and thus is the dharma or Plan by which the world exists. Asha Vahishta is the order of the cosmos, the
ideal form of the universe. It is associated with the element of fire.
Khshathra Vairya, Desirable Dominion, is divine strength and the power of Ahura Mazdas kingdom. In theological terms, it
represents the Kingdom of Heaven; in human terms, it represents the ideal society. Khshathra Vairya is associated with
the sky and with the mineral kingdom. Human beings can realize the power of Khshathra Vairya when they are guided by
Good Mind and Highest Truth.
Spenta Armaiti, Holy or Bountiful Devotion, theologically is the attitude of piety and devotion; ethically, it is the attitude of
benevolence. It is associated with the element of earth.
Haurvatat, Wholeness, is the state of perfection, complete well-being, spiritual and physical integrity. It is associated with
the element of water.
Ameretat, Immortality, is the state of immortal bliss. It is associated with the plant kingdom.
These seven can be thought of either as cosmic principles or as human principles (the macrocosm-microcosm). It is
through our use of a good mind (Vohu Manah), practicing love and devotion (Spenta Armaiti), and following the path of
righteousness (Asha Vahishta) that we can bring about the ideal state of things (Khshathra Vairya), in which ultimately
perfection (Haurvatat) and immortality (Ameretat) will prevail. Human beings are not bystanders in life. We are the prime
agents through whose actions the promise of Ahura Mazda will be fulfilled. With Ahura Mazda, we are co-creators of the
ideal world.
Under the Amesha Spentas are other intelligences called Yazatas, sometimes compared to angels. Together with human
beings, the Yazatas are the hamkars or helpers of Ahura Mazda.
Worldview
Zoroastrianism views the world as having been created by Ahura Mazda and as meant to evolve to perfection according
to the law or plan of Asha, the divine order of things. The law of Asha is the principle of righteousness or rightness by
which all things are exactly what they should be. In their most basic prayer, the Ashem Vohu, repeated every day,
Zoroastrians affirm this law of Asha: Righteousness is the highest virtue. Happiness to him who is righteous for the sake
of righteousness. This is the central concept in the Zoroastrian religion: Asha is the ultimate Truth, the ideal of what life
and existence should be.
Duality exists as part of manifestation, but human beings also have freewill to choose between the dual opposites. As they
have the power of choice, they have also the personal responsibility of choosing well. Spenta Mainyu, the Bountiful Spirit,
promotes the realization of Asha. Angra Mainyu, the Destructive Spirit, violates Asha. We have a choice between them,
between spirit and matter, between the real and the unreal.
Personal salvation is attained through making the right choice. And the salvation of the world, called Frashokereti, is the
restoration of the world to its perfect state, one that is in complete accord with Asha. As human beings make the right
choices in their lives, they are furthering the realization of Frashokereti.
Life after Death
What happens after death? According to the Zoroastrian tradition, after the death of the body, the soul remains in this
world for three days and nights, in the care of Sraosha, one of the Yazatas or angels. During this period, prayers are said
and rituals performed to assure a safe passage of the soul into the spiritual realm. On the dawn of the fourth day, the spirit
is believed to have crossed over to the other world, where it arrives at the allegorical Chinvat Bridge.
At the Chinvat Bridge, the soul meets a maiden who is the embodiment of all the good words, thoughts, and deeds of its
preceding life. If the soul has led a righteous life (one in accord with the divine Plan), the maiden appears in a beautiful
form. If not, she appears as an ugly hag. This image, fair or foul, confronts the soul, and the soul acknowledges that the

image is an embodiment of its own actions and thereby judges itself, knowing whether it is worthy to cross over the bridge
to the other side or must return to earth to learn further lessons.
By another account, after the soul meets its own image, it appears before a heavenly tribunal, where divine justice is
administered. Good souls go to a heaven called Vahishta Ahu, the Excellent Abode. Evil souls are consigned to a hell
called Achista Ahu, the Worst Existence. One account reflects a belief in reincarnation; the other does not.
In the oldest Zoroastrian scriptures, heaven and hell are not places, but states of mind that result from right or wrong
choices. Zoroaster spoke of the drujo demana or House of Lies and the garo demanaor House of Song, to which
souls are sent. Some say that the fall of the soul into the House of Lies means a return of the soul to earth, the realm of
unreality or lies.
Practices
Burial
Zoroastrianism places great emphasis on purity and not defiling any of the elements of Ahura Mazdascreation. For that
reason, traditionally, neither burial nor cremation were practiced by Zoroastrians. Instead, dead bodies were taken to a
Tower of Silence and laid out under the sun, where vultures devoured them. At the present time, there is great controversy
about this practice.
Fire
Fire is the major symbol in Zoroastrianism and has a central role in the most important religious ceremonies. It has a
special significance, being the supreme symbol of God and the divine Life. In Zoroastrian scriptures, Ahura Mazda is
described as full of luster, full of glory, and hence his luminous creationsfire, sun, stars, and lightare regarded as
visible tokens of the divine and of the inner light. That inner light is the divine spark that burns within each of us. Fire is
also a physical representation of the illumined mind.
Zoroastrian places of worship are called Fire Temples. In them an eternal flame is kept burning with sandalwood and
frankincense. The first fire to be lit upon an altar is said to have been brought down from heaven by Zoroaster with a rod.
When the Parsis fled from Iran and settled in India, fire was again brought down from heaven by lightning to create the
sacred symbol of Ahura Mazda. The fire altar where that historic fire is still burning is an important pilgrimage site for the
Parsis. Because the fire is such a sacred and holy symbol, the fire temples are open only to Zoroastrians.
Social Practices
Today, Zoroastrians do not proselytize, and consequently Zoroastrians are born to the faith. If a Parsi woman marries
outside the religion, her children cannot be Zoroastrians, but if a man marries outside, his children can become
Zoroastrians, although his wife cannot. No doubt these restrictions are later aberrations not befitting the lofty ideals and
teachings of the religion.
Scriptures
The Zoroastrian scriptures are called the Avesta, and the ancient language in which they are written is called Avestan.
That language is closely related to the Sanskrit of the ancient Vedic hymns. The term Zend Avesta refers to the
commentaries made by the successors of Zoroaster on his writings. Later, commentaries to the commentaries were
written in the Persian language of the Sasanian Empire, which is called Pahlavi. So the Zoroastrian scriptures are in
several languages and their composition spans vast periods of time. Yet they are fragmentary because of the destruction
of written texts and the persecution of priest-scholars by foreign invaders.
The oldest part of the Zoroastrian scriptures are the Gathas, which are the direct teachings of Zoroaster and his
conversations with Ahura Mazda in a series of visions. The Gathas are part of a major section of the Avesta called the
Yasna, a term literally meaning sacrifice, consisting of texts recited by priests during ceremonies. The Vendidad is a
manual in the form of a catechism giving rules of purification and for preventing sins of both commission and omission.
The Khordeh Avesta or Little Avesta includes invocations with beautiful descriptions of the Yazatas or angelic
intelligences.
Fundamental Moral Practices
The basic moral principles that guide the life of a Zoroastrian are three:
Humata, Good Thoughts, the intention or moral resolution to abide by Asha, the right order of things.
Hukhata, Good Words, the communication of that intention.
Havarashta, Good Deeds, the realization in action of that intention.

Living these three principles is the way we exercise our freewill by following the law of Asha. These three principles are
included in many Zoroastrian prayers, and children commit themselves to abide by them at their initiation ceremony,
marking their responsible entry into the faith as practicing Zoroastrians. They are the moral code by which a Zoroastrian
lives.