What kind of religion is traditional Taoism in China?

Taoism originated from Fang Xiandao in ancient China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and merged with Taoism and the thoughts of "Five Elements" and "Yin and Yang" to form the Huangdi School. In the Han dynasty, it merged with Laozi's theory to form the ecliptic, and then gradually evolved into the present Taoism.

Taoism is the primitive religious form of polytheism and worships many gods. Its main purpose is to pursue immortality, achieve immortality, and help the world and save people.

Although Taoism has been one of hundred schools of thought since the Warring States Period, it deified the philosopher whose core concept was "virtue" at first. It was not until the middle and late Han Dynasty that cults appeared. Zhang Ling is a monk in Hemingshan, Yizhou (present-day Sichuan). He founded Shi Tiandao, believed in Laozi as the old gentleman of the throne, and established Twenty-four Governance as a missionary area. By the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the religious form of Taoism was gradually improved. The Tang Dynasty respected Laozi and said that Laozi was the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty.

Taoism takes "Tao" as its highest belief and holds that "Tao" is the origin of all things in the Central Plains. In the traditional culture of China, Taoism (including Taoism, witchcraft, etc. ) is considered to be the dominant theory together with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and it is a method to seek related practice and cultivate immortality.

Taoism in academic circles now refers to the ancient religious beliefs in China, which inherited most religious concepts and practice methods of Fang and Huang, as well as folk belief in gods, and gradually formed the highest belief of "Tao". It is a religion in China, which takes Taishang Laojun as its leader and Laozi's Tao Te Ching as its main classic to cultivate immortality and seek truth. The main methods of Taoist immortality can be roughly summarized as five: taking immortal medicine, external alchemy, refining qi and guiding meridians, practicing inner alchemy, achieving immortality through Taoist rituals, self-cultivation and other rituals. Most of the later immortals were cultivated by Neidan.