Confucianism does not meet the definition of a religion, so it is not a religion.
According to Xu Zhongshu's "Dictionary of Oracle Bone Inscriptions", the Confucianism in the oracle bone inscriptions resembles the shape of a person bathing and soaking his body. Before ancient primitive religions held sacrificial ceremonies, the celebrants must fast and bathe to show sincerity. It not only proves Hu Shi’s argument that Confucianism was first initiated by Yin Shang priests and religious clergy, but also found evidence that Confucianism is a religion.
Orthodoxy began when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty only respected Confucianism. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty ordered all the Confucian scholars to correct the Five Classics and publish them on stone tablets. The three-body calligraphy of ancient Chinese, seal script and official script was compared and checked, and established a school of learning that made the world If you take what you have, Confucianism will be officially designated as the state religion, and the Five Classics will become the national code and the legal basis of the Chinese legal system, and the Spring and Autumn Period will be the final sentence.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism spread widely. "Taiwei Gong inherited Su Xu, and everyone believed in Confucianism. He taught from all over the world with "Ouyang Shangshu" and "Jingshi Yi". Scholars came from far away, covering more than three thousand people. "Confucianism has been regarded as an official school since the Han Dynasty, and has been the official guiding ideology of every major dynasty or historical period since then. Confucianism, which was formed by the religiousization of Confucianism in the Qing Dynasty, is also a branch of Confucianism.