section_path: History/Imperial China
section_name: Imperial China
paragraph_text: Imperial China
  
  By the Han dynasty, the ancient Chinese religion mostly consisted of people organising into shè (Chinese: 社) who worshipped their godly principle. In many cases the "lord of the she " was the god of the earth, and in others a deified virtuous person (xiān Chinese: 仙, "immortal"). Some cults such as that of Liu Zhang, a king in what is today Shandong, date back to this period.
  
  From the 3rd century on by the Northern Wei, accompanying the spread of Buddhism in China, strong influences from the Indian subcontinent penetrated the ancient Chinese indigenous religion. A cult of Ganesha (Chinese: 象頭神 Xiàngtóushén, "Elephant-Head God") is attested in the year 531. Pollination from Indian religions included processions of carts with images of gods or floats borne on shoulders, with musicians and chanting.