Tiandi teachings

The Tiandi teachings or teachings of the Heaven God (Chinese: 天帝教; pinyin: Tiāndìjiāo) are salvation sects of the Chinese traditional religion, encompassing two branches, Tiandi and Tiande (天德, "Heavenly Virtue"), emerged from the teachings of Xiao Changming and Li Yujie, disseminated in the early 20th century. Tiandi is actually a later sprout of Tiande, established in the 1980s.

These religions focus on the worship of Tiandi (天帝), the "Heavely God" or "Heavenly Emperor", on health through the proper cultivation of qi, and teach a style of qigong named Tianren qigong. According to scholars, the Tiandi teachings derive from the Taoist tradition of Huashan, where Li Yujie studied for eight years. The Tiandi Church is active both in Taiwan and mainland China, where it claims high-level links.

Tiande: Heavenly Virtue

The origins of the Tiande teaching (Chinese: 天德聖教; pinyin: Tiāndé Shèngjiāo; literally: "sacred religion of the Heavenly Virtue", also simply 天德教 Tiāndéjiāo) go back to Sichuan in 1899, with the alleged resurrection of a young boy named Xiao Changming (蕭昌明, 1896-1943) who had apparently died three days earlier. After his revival, he declared that he had received Heaven's mandate (tianming) to save humanity from suffering. He embarked on a successful religious career and attracted a large following.