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Tian
Tian is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the cosmos and the supreme power over humans and lesser gods in indigenous Chinese religion. As a god, Tian is an impersonal power, in contrast to the supreme ruler Shangdi, with whom Tian is nevertheless closely identified. Scholars have long debated whether Tian rewarded and punished human actions or whether events merely followed Tian's order and principles.

For three thousand years it has been believed that from time immemorial all Chinese revered T'ien 天, "Heaven," as the highest deity, and that this same deity was also known as Ti 帝 or Shang Ti 上帝. But the new materials that have become available in the present century, and especially the Shang inscriptions, make it evident that this was not the case. It appears rather that T'ien is not named at all in the Shang inscriptions, which instead refer with great frequency to Ti or Shang Ti. T'ien appears only with the Chou and was apparently a Chou deity. After the conquest the Chou considered T'ien to be identical with the Shang deity Ti (or Shang Ti), much as the Romans identified the Greek Zeus with their Jupiter. (1970:493)