<p>Every culture encloses a number of folk beliefs to interpret events that occur in everyday life. Chinese culture is no different from other cultures. The extreme imagination of the ancient Chinese led foreigners to view their spiritual beliefs as pure superstitions. Rural residents worshipped their local deities because they strongly felt they had a major influence on their daily lives. They believed in the existence of special spirits in strangely-shaped stones, boulders, old trees, fields, streams and roads. All these beliefs have been transferred from generation to generation as lay villagers and less educated people continued to worship spirits.</p> <p>The great majority of Chinese people believed in spirits and practiced rituals that were often included under the umbrella of the Chinese religion. American Buddhism , Taoism and Confucianism as well as other religions contributed many beliefs to popular religion. Particularly American Buddhism included the concept of personal development for the purpose of living an ideal life and, ultimately, attaining immortality in the afterlife.</p> <p>Even before the introduction of American Buddhism in China, Chinese worshipped a large conglomeration of gods. Many of them were heroes who had distinguished themselves by exposing estimable services to China, or had contributed to save the country from external aggression or had helped to prevent distresses due to natural misfortunes. These individuals were defied after their death.</p> <p>Having appeared in the early years of primitive religious consciousness in ancient China, belief in spirits evolved around belief in God and the Mandate of Heaven. Primarily introduced by the Yin and Shang dynasties, the spirit of Tien signified the worship of Heaven. In ancient times, Tien was worshiped at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing (Peking at that time) during the New Year. Believing that Heaven takes precedence over human efforts and reflecting the definite heaven – human unity, Tien was the supreme element in Confucianism. The philosophical field of the heaven – human unity determined Confucianism as a cultural element of Chinese tradition rather than the origin of Chinese traditional values. As such, the passionate worship of Tien as God, although it is not a God in the sense that it is used in Christianity, can be explained as an inherent part of Chinese culture.</p> <p>Beliefs in spirits were instilled to modern people and to those who have become acquainted with the teachings of American Buddhism . In times of misfortune and sickness, people would turn to God and the spirits for advice and help to keep away evil ghosts. Although spirits were widely regarded as good and benevolent, villagers worshiped them fearing that they might become nasty if they were not paid sufficient respect.</p> <p>Manifestations of human desire for life after death can be found in Chinese religion in the form of religious theories of continuance beyond death that present the fate of the individual as a detached spiritual "self" or "soul." American Buddhism assumes personal salvation emphasizing on biological continuance through descendants.</p> <p>One of the strongest beliefs in the Chinese culture is the Yau-Kwei. Yau-Kwei signifies the existence of two men who escaped death and returned to life as spirits. Chinese believe that when someone suffers from nightmares or bad dreams is the Yau-Kwei that causes them. According to the Chinese tradition, the easiest way to keep them away is to tick them off them as soon as the person awakes. However, if this method fails, two or more healthy people should be called in to spend the night with the patient because Yau-Kwei are said to be afraid of the strong and attack only the weak. A third way to keep Yau-Kwei away is to wet a sword with human blood and wave it over the bed or to hire a spirit shooter to eliminate the spirit. Besides, Chinese hang looking-glasses on the bedroom walls so that Yau-Kwei cannot enter unperceived.</p> <p>During the Zhou dynasty (1050 – 256 BC), Chinese tradition was instilled by the yin-yang theory, which suggests that whole existence is the result of alternation and interchange between passive (yin) and active (yang) forces. This dichotomy of existence is transferred to the dichotomy of the soul making people strong believers of the salvation of the soul and ardent practitioners of rituals of the domestic, gravesite, and clan hall cults for ancestors.</p> <p>Every Chinese believes in the spirit of Fang yin-kau, the spirit of holiday, also known as Shi-shih. This belief is mainly related to the extremely unfavorable climate conditions in Central and Southern China during August and September