1 Answers
In the Chinese common religion and philosophical schools the idea of the universal God has been expressed in a variety of names and representations, most notably as 天 Tiān and 上帝 Shàngdì.
These two and other concepts have been variously combined, in diverse contexts, to form titles such as: Huáng Tiān Shàngdì=Huáng "Emperor"+Tiān+Shàngdì or Xuán Tiān Shàngdì=Xuán "Deep"+Tiān+Shàngdì , Shàngtiān=Shàng+Tiān "Highest Heaven" and Tiāntáng=Tiān+Táng "Vault of Heaven". The compounds tiānshén=tiān+shén "heavenly god" and tiānxiān=tiān+xiān "heavenly immortal" have been used for a deity, in a polytheistic sense. The word Dì by itself has likewise been used for God.
When Abrahamic religions penetrated China, they appropriated some of the traditional titles, or created new compound titles, to express their theology.