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Taoism, the oldest religion in China, originally did not think that people's remains should be buried after death. They believed that a Taoist would finally ascend to heaven and become an immortal. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, however, as a result of combining the doctrines of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism advocated by the ruling class, Taoists adopted the method of burying the ashes of the departed in pagodas. The structure of a Taoist pagoda was not much different from that of a Buddhist pagoda. In fact, Buddhist pagodas were transplanted to Taoism with little change, but few Taoist pagodas exist in China today.
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