Also ideas vary between western and eastern worlds.  As mentioned in the short history of Chinese philosophy by Fung Yu-lan, philosophy is systematic reflective thinking on life, such as theory of life, universe and knowledge; while religion has a philosophic core with other superstructure surrounding, including superstitions, dogmas, rituals and institutions. As for Chinese philosophy, it doesn’t elaborate much about metaphysics or logic. It is ethics. Ethics plays the dominant role in China instead of religion, which is the fundamental in western world; however, it doesn’t mean that Chinese are not conscious of the values higher than the moral ones.  The function of Chinese philosophy is not increase of positive knowledge, but experiencing the super-moral values. Just like any mankind, Chinese crave for something beyond the present actual world; but they do in a philosophical way instead of religious.