tian, in indigenous Chinese religion, the supreme power reigning over lesser gods and human beings. The term tian may refer to a deity, to impersonal nature, or to both.
As a god, tian is sometimes perceived to be an impersonal power in contrast to Shangdi (“Supreme Ruler”), but the two are closely identified and the terms frequently used synonymously. Evidence suggests that tian originally referred to the sky while Shangdi referred to the Supreme Ancestor who resided there. The first mention of tian seems to have occurred early in the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce), and it is thought that tian assimilated Shangdi, the supreme god of the preceding Shang dynasty (c. mid-16th century–mid-11th century bce). The importance of both tian and Shangdi to the ancient Chinese lay in their assumed influence over the fertility of the clan and its crops; sacrifices were offered to these powers solely by the king and, later, by the emperor.
Chinese rulers were traditionally referred to as Son of Heaven (tianzi), and their authority was believed to emanate from tian. Beginning in the Zhou dynasty, sovereignty was explained by the concept of the mandate of heaven (tianming). This was a grant of authority that depended not on divine right but on virtue. Indeed, this authority was revocable if the ruler did not attend to his virtue. Since the ruler’s virtue was believed to be reflected in the harmony of the empire, social and political unrest were traditionally considered signs that the mandate had been revoked and would soon be transferred to a succeeding dynasty.
Although in the early Zhou tian was conceived as an anthropomorphic, all-powerful deity, in later references tian is often no longer personalized. In this sense, tian can be likened to nature or to fate. In many cases, it is unclear which meaning of tian is being used. This ambiguity can be explained by the fact that Chinese philosophy was concerned less with defining the character of tian than with defining its relationship to humanity. Scholars generally agreed that tian was the source of moral law, but for centuries they debated whether tian responded to human pleas and rewarded and punished human actions or whether events merely followed the order and principles established by tian.