Taoism and Confucianism have both been seen as religions and as nonreligious philosophies and superstitions. Both religions have many people who call themselves part of a religion, while others state that they are just teachings and not truly religions.
Taoism is officially recognized as a religion by the Chinese government. Taoism was part of the major religions of the Chinese during the third century A.D. after breakdown of the Han dynasty. Confucianism is considered a major religion of the world even though the Chinese government does not officially recognize it. Confucianism has rituals and ceremonies, which is similar to many "true" religions.
On the other hand Taoism is commonly seen as nothing more then a collection of superstitions. Taoism in its early stage of development was a philosophy on how to live a life that was very high in quality without the interest of life after death, the heavens or even the "gods". Taoism started out as a school of philosophers without any Supreme Creator or High God or gods. Taoists believe in alchemy, turning one thing into another such as lead to gold. The Taoist believed by doing this they would become immortal and with that there was little or no need for salvation by the gods, at first. Confucianism is not officially recognized by the Chinese government as a religion it is seen as part feudalism, a type of government.
In Confucianism, there is no priesthood and their sacred writings have never been considered a divine revelation, partly because it has no afterlife doctrine. Many scholars claim that the teaching of Confucius and his disciples were never intended to develop into a religion but they were more of a philosophy on how to live life.
Taoism and Confucianism are either philosophies that have religious qualities or they are religions that started out as philosophies. Both sides have arguments both ways but in either case they had a great effect on the development of the Chinese Empire and its population today.
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