their ancestors) worshipped Heaven, when they did so
at all--the custom being observed by some and not by others, just
as in Western countries some people go to church, while others stay
away--usually at the time of the New Year, in a simple, unceremonious
way, by lighting some incense-sticks and waving them toward the sky
in the courtyards of their own houses or in the street just outside
their doors.

Confusion of Shang Ti and T'ien

The qualification necessary to the above description is that, as
time went on and especially since the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280),
much confusion arose regarding Shang Ti and T'ien, and thus it came
about that the terms became mixed and their definitions obscure. This
confusion of ideas has prevailed down to the present time. One result
of this is that the people may sometimes state, when they wave their
incense-sticks or light their candles, that their humble sacrifice
is made to Shang Ti, whom in reality they have no right either to
worship or to offer sacrifice to, but whom they may unofficially pay
respect and make obeisance to, as they might and did to the emperor
behind the high boards on the roadsides which shielded him from their
view as he was borne along in his elaborate procession on the few
occasions when he came forth from the imperial city.

Thus we find that, while only the emperor could worship and sacrifice
to Shang Ti, and only he could officially worship and sacrifice to
T'ien, the people who early personified and worshipped T'ien, as
already shown, came, owing to confusion of the meanings of Shang Ti
and T'ien, unofficially to 'worship' both, but only in the sense and to
the extent indicated, and to offer 'sacrifices' to both, also only in
the sense and to the extent indicated. But for these qualifications,
the statement that the Chinese worship and sacrifice to Shang Ti and
T'ien would be apt to convey an incorrect idea.

From this it will be apparent that Shang Ti, the Supreme Ruler on High,
and T'ien, Heaven (later personified), do not mean 'God' in the sense
that the word is used in the Christian religion. To state that they
do, as so many writers on China have done, without pointing out the
essential differences, is misleading. That Chinese religion was or is
"a monotheistic worship of God" is further disproved by the fact that
Shang Ti and T'ien do not appear in the list of the popular pantheon at
all, though all the other gods are there represented. Nei