life, sensibility and insensibility (as in fainting, etc.), suggest the
idea of another life parallel with this life and of the doings of the
'other self' in it. This 'other self,' this spirit, which leaves the
body for longer or shorter intervals in dreams, swoons, death, may
return or be brought back, and the body revive. Spirits which do not
return or are not brought back may cause mischief, either alone, or by
entry into another human or animal body or even an inanimate object,
and should therefore be propitiated. Hence worship and deification.


The Populous Otherworld

The Chinese pantheon has gradually become so multitudinous that there
is scarcely a being or thing which is not, or has not been at some time
or other, propitiated or worshipped. As there are good and evil people
in this world, so there are gods and demons in the Otherworld: we find
a polytheism limited only by a polydemonism. The dualistic hierarchy is
almost all-embracing. To get a clear idea of this populous Otherworld,
of the supernal and infernal hosts and their organizations, it needs
but to imagine the social structure in its main features as it existed
throughout the greater part of Chinese history, and to make certain
additions. The social structure consisted of the ruler, his court,
his civil, military, and ecclesiastical officials, and his subjects
(classed as Scholars--officials and gentry--Agriculturists, Artisans,
and Merchants, in that order).


Worship of Shang Ti

When these died, their other selves continued to exist and to hold