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Tian

Tian (天) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven or the cosmos and is a central concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. During the Shang dynasty (17th–11th century BCE), the highest deity was referred to as Shangdi or Di (帝, "Lord"). In the subsequent Zhou dynasty, Tian became synonymous with this figure. Prior to the 20th century…

Characters, Etymology & Chinese interpretations

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Etymology

Middle ChineseOld ChineseTurkicAnd MongolianTengri
27 related topics

Chinese interpretations

Jade EmperorAnthropomorphizedGodsPolitical philosophyDì
33 related topics

Characters

Chinese characterSeal scriptOracle bone scriptBronzeware scriptIdeogram
10 related topics

Interpretation by Western sinologists

Herrlee CreelZeusJupiterTang of ShangJie
6 related topics

Key facts & relationships

High-confidence facts extracted from structured source data. Use them as anchors for further research.

Abode
Sky
Associated deities
Shangdi
Bopomofo
ㄊㄧㄢ
Chinese
天
Chữ Hán
天
Dynasty
Zhou

Topics to explore

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Overview

Characters

Etymology

Chinese interpretations

Japanese interpretations

Interpretation by Western sinologists

Advanced semantic analysis

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Map overview Semantic statistics

Tian

Nodes101
Edges100
Triples153
Avg. degree1.98
Density0.019802
Components1

How this topic connects Entity context

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Tian

Top relations

related to Compounds · 19
Tian → Arabic, Bayt Allah, Chinese, Chinese Dynasties, Chu Ci, God, Heaven, Heavenly Questions, House, Kaaba, Mandate, Some, Son, Tiāndì, Tiānmìng, Tiānwèn, Tiānxià, Tiānzǐ, Xingtian
related to Schools of cosmology · 15
Tian → Astronomy, Book, Chinese, Described, Gàitiān, Hùntiān, Ji Meng, Jin, Originating, See, Suggested, Three, Xuānyè, Zhang Heng, Zhoubi Suanjing
related to Confucianism · 13
Tian → Ching, Confucian, Confucianism, Dì, Earth, Heaven, Historically, In, Respect, Son, The, Tiānzǐ, Within
related to Etymology · 13
Tian → Adi, BCE, CE, He, Lepcha, Middle Chinese, Mongolian, Old Chinese, Reconstructions, Schuessler, Tibeto-Burman, Turkic, Zemeic Naga
related to Characters · 9
Tian → Celestial, Chinese, He, However, In, Schuessler, Shang, The, Zhōu
related to Interpretation by Western sinologists · 8
Tian → China, Chinese, Creel, Deity T'ien, Di, Shangdi, Sinologist Herrlee Creel, The Origin
related to Taoism · 7
Tian → After, Great Web, In Taoism, Taoists, The, These, Yuanshi Tianzun
related to Ahom religion · 6
Tian → Dai, Heavenly Kingdom, Mong Phi, Southwest China, The Ahom, Yunnan
related to Chinese interpretations · 5
Tian → In Confucianism, It, Jade Emperor, Lord Heaven, Taoism
see also · 5
Tian → Amenominakanushi, CheondoismHongjun LaozuShenTaiyi TianzunTengri, God, Japanese, Sky God

Important terminology Word statistics

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Important terminology

heaven chinese also deity zhou earth shang regarded sky confucius dynasty confucianism shangdi human described di may heavenly believed master

Entity relationships Subject–Predicate–Object triples

SubjectPredicateObjectConfidenceSrc
TianAbodeSky1.00infobox
TianAssociated deitiesShangdi1.00infobox
TianBopomofoㄊㄧㄢ1.00infobox
TianChinese天1.00infobox
TianChữ Hán天1.00infobox
TianDynastyZhou1.00infobox
TianEthnic groupChinese1.00infobox
TianGenderMale1.00infobox
TianHangul천1.00infobox
TianHanja天1.00infobox
TianHanyu Pinyintiān1.00infobox
TianHokkien POJthiⁿ1.00infobox
TianIPA[tʰi̯ɛn]1.00infobox
TianIPA[tʰin˥]1.00infobox
TianJyutpingtin11.00infobox
TianKanaてん1.00infobox
TianKanji天1.00infobox
TianLiteral meaningheaven, nature1.00infobox
TianMiddle Chinesetʰen1.00infobox
TianRegionChina1.00infobox
TianRevised Romanizationcheon1.00infobox
TianRomanizationthi (T1)1.00infobox
TianRomanizationtien11.00infobox
TianRomanizationten1.00infobox
TianShang dynastyShangdi1.00infobox
TianTemplesTemple of Heaven1.00infobox
TianTranscriptionsTranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu PinyintiānBopomofoㄊㄧㄢWade–Gilest'ien1IPA[tʰi̯ɛn]WuRomanizationthi (T1)GanRomanizationtien1Yue: CantoneseYale RomanizationtīnJyutpingtin1IPA[…1.00infobox
TianTranscriptionsTranscriptionsRevised Romanizationcheon1.00infobox
TianTranscriptionsTranscriptionsRomanizationten1.00infobox
TianVenerated inReligious Confucianism Chinese folk religion1.00infobox

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    Min side: 3
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