'Polytheism' and ' monotheism' are categories derived from Western religion and do not fit Chinese religion, which has never conceived the two things as opposites.

Besides the traditional worship of these entities, Confucianism, Taoism, and formal thinkers in general give theological interpretations affirming a monistic essence of divinity. Gods are innumerable, as every phenomenon has or is one or more gods, and they are organised in a complex celestial hierarchy. There are a variety of immortals in Chinese thought, and one major type is the xian, which is thought in some religious Taoism movements to be a human given long or infinite life. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore, as the means of connecting back to Heaven, which is the 'utmost ancestral father' ( 曾祖父 zēngzǔfù). Most gods are also identified with stars and constellations. Many gods are ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly achievements. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating, and propagating the way of heaven ( Tian 天), which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order. Chinese traditional religion is polytheistic many deities are worshipped in a pantheistic view where divinity is inherent in the world.

South north dragon