I. Foundations
from the Tao of China

Prologue to the Tao of China

Byproduct of Curiosity's Passion

Written for a 'Growing Person'

1. Calligraphy: Tao of China

Tao = method, path, or way

Tao, the ideogram

Zhöng = Middle

Middle Kingdom = China

Gúo = Kingdom

The Path to the Inner Kingdom

2: China & her Three Doctrines

Traditionally, a borderless country

China manifests through the ‘Three Doctrines’

3: The History of Taoism?

Historical Ambiguities of Taoism or Nothing official

Initial Appearance of Taoism - 2nd Century BC

Confucian/Taoist polarity: Religions of state and people

Those Taoists or Named by the opposition

Whose tao? or The taoless Tao

The Taoists, political outsiders

Taoism, a religion of the people, not the government

Taoism, an outgrowth of prehistoric shamanism

History of Taoism is history of Chinese populace

Ambiguous Chinese are both Confucian & Taoist

In China, things are rarely as they seem.

4: China’s Body

China’s river plains

China separated from rest of world

Plateaus and Passes

Mongolian Plateau and the Ordos

5: The Dynamics of Eurasian Geography

The Great Arid Zone only suitable for nomadic herding

Geography leads to bi-cultural development

The Warrior Morality

Dynamic consistent throughout Eurasiafrican history

Even Language Family of 2 cultures is different

6: China’s Geography

Modern China’s 5 historical parts

Topography of Asia

Continental River Basins

China’s River Valleys

Hwang Po: the Yellow River Geography

Yangtze River Valley