IJOHIS Volume 8, No.2, 2018 pp.103-124 ON DIVINITIES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SELECTED YORUBA AND CHINESE DIVINITIES Banwo Adetoro Olaniyi * Abstract Traditional societies such as the Yoruba and the Chinese share a lot in common. Their values and traditions are modelled on rules and regulations set by supernatural beings or deities. Both societies have historical trajectories that reveals that certain deities have transcendental origins, unique attributes and supreme qualities that are based on an unquestionable truth. The Yoruba cosmology discloses the supremacy of Olódùmarè, who is seen as a supreme being and whose power is absolute. In Chinese cosmology, Shangdi 上帝 is the Chinese terminology for the highest deity in their classical texts. This connotation is embedded in the meaning of primordial deity or first deity in Chinese classical texts. Shangdi just like Olódùmarè has other divinities that assist it in the control of the universe. This study examines the traditional societies of two distant societies in the area of their divinities. Data were obtained through homogenous purposive random sampling and analyzed through content analysis. Divinities with certain attributes and traditional beliefs were examined and investigated in this research because the human elements in these societies strongly attributed them to have unique powers over different aspects of their existence. Yoruba and Chinese divinities which had benevolence, folk tale beliefs, and mercy, compassion and religious connotations were downloaded from the internet. The framework for this research work stemmed from traditional beliefs and cosmological principles. Keywords: Supreme Being, Tradition, Values, Cosmology and Divinities * Department of Linguistics, African and Asian Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka-Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: banwotoro@yahoo.com