As a socialist country very much influenced by Marxism Leninism, China looks at religion in perspective.

Ever since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party and government have stood for a policy of freedom of religious beliefs, because they hold that religion is a product of history ans that objective laws of development govern its origin, development, and eventual disappearance. So long as there are conditions for the existence of religion, there will be followers.

 

Major religions in China are Buddhism, Daoism, Islam and Christianity . Among these, Buddhism and Daoism have the longest history and have exerted the greatest influence on Chinese culture, historically as well as contemporaneously. All these main religions have large followings in China.

Buddhism in China  

Buddhism is one of the world's three major religions. It was found by Siddartha Gautama(悉达多乔达摩）who lived in the north-east region of the Indian subcontinent between 6 BC and 5 BC. Buddhism was wide-spread in many countries in Asia. During the Eastern Han Dynasty it was spread from the west to the East into China. Then as a result of the Buddhist influence on and merging with Chinese culture, Buddhism came to be a natural part of Chinese civilization, albeit with a unique character. Buddhism has played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, affecting our aesthetics, politics, literature, philosophy and medicine.

There are three kinds of Buddhism throughout the whole world nowadays: Pali Buddhism, Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism.The last two kinds of Buddhism were all originated in China. In this case, people often say that although Buddhism got its roots in India, but was developed  in China,  finally evolving into “Chinese Buddhism”.

 

Here’s one of the most famous monasteries in China named Xiantong monastery on the Mountain of Wu Tai Shan

 Xiantong monastery

Taoism

Taoism is not only a religion but also a philosophical system. It was inherent to the Han nationality. It has been one of the three religions systems of China along with Buddhism and Confucianism. It derives from the philosophical system of Laozi, a great thinker and founder of Taoist School during the Spring and Autumn period (770-476BC). It originated around the 2nd century with a history of about 1800 years. Zhang Daoling is credited as its founder. Laozi is regarded as its master and his works. Dao De Jing is main doctrine. By the 14th century, Taoism was divided into several sects. Since then it has developed into two main philosophies, including Quanzhen Dao and Zhengyi Dao. Then it began to decline in the Ming Dynasty. The center of the Taoist thoughts is the "Tao", the totality of existence conceived of as a whole. The way to achieve freedom is by means of getting rid of conventional concerns and achieving union with the Tao.

Sign of Daoism

 

Islam

"The messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, to perform the prayers, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadhan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." He said: " You have spoken rightly.

Estimates of the total number of Muslims range from 0.7 to 1.8 billion worldwide and 1.1 to 7 million in the U.S.  3 We accept the best estimate as 1.57 billion, concluded by the Pew Forums. About 23% of all people on Earth follow Islam. The religion is currently in a period of rapid growth.

China is home to a large population of adherents of Islam. According to the CIA World Factbook, about 1%-2% of the total population in China are Muslims, However, the last three national censuses (1982, 1990, and 2000) did not include questions about religion. The number of religious believers are typically inferred indirectly from census counts of the number of people who identify themselves as belonging to particular ethnic groups, some of whom are known to be predominantly members of certain religious groups. According to data provided by the San Diego State University's International Population Center to U.S. News & World Report, China has 65.3 million Muslims. The BBC's "Religion and Ethics" website gave a range of 20 million to 100 million (1.5% to 7.5% of the total) Muslims in China.

Great Mosque

 

Christianity

As early as the year 635, Christianity had been introduced into China by way of Persian. However, since it failed to take deep root in the society and culture of China, Christianity hadn't been well developed all the time and even disappeared more than once. During the 19th century, Christianity was once again introduced into China from the west. Since the preaching activites were under the protection of unequal treaty of great powers, the church was controlled by Missionary Society and Christianity was despised and called "foreign religion" by Chinese people in China. In 1949, there were merely about seven hundred thousand believers in China.

In 1950, Chinese Christians lauched the three-self patriotic movement and helped Chinese church walk up the road of independence and self-administration through self-management, self-support and self-propagation. During the period from 1966 to 1976, under the influence of the Cultural Revolution in the ultra-Left route, Chinese church life had been broken off for a time. In 1979, the church was recovered. In 1980, Chinese Christian Association was established.

Chinese church has entered "the post-sectarian period" and sectarian organizations no longer exist in our contry. Belivers hold joint worship sevice. Moreover, Christians from varied belief and etiquette backgrounds practice the principle of "mutual respect".

For the past over twenty years, under the lead of the two Christian societies of the country (namely China Christian Three-self Patriotic Movement Committee and China Christian Association), all the undertakings of Chinese Christianity have developed vigorously. The whole country has now opened nearly fifty thousand churches, of which 70% are newly built. The total number of Christian has exceeded 16 million, of which those in rural areas account for more than 70%.

 

Up to the present, the whole country has eighteen theological seminaries and Bible colleges, of which the Jinling Xiehe Theological Seminary is a national theological seminary. Each college has nearly five thousand theological graduates, who are distributed in churches in all parts of the country or serve in theological colleges.

Bible