Chinese Philosophies & Religions --- The Status

The status of religion in the China of today

by Dai Kangsheng
Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute of Religion, Chinese Academy of Social Science.

China is a country of great ethnic and religious diversity. Nearly 10 percent of its 1.2 billion people are religious believers. Among the 56 ethnic nationalities, some 20 minority groups are composed almost entirely of followers of the same religion. The major religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. Buddhism was introduced into China in the first century. There are now about 13,000 Buddhist temples and some 200,000 monks and nuns. Buddhism also still has strong appeal to numerous elderly people, who turn to the Buddha for help. Lamaism, a blend of Buddhism and indigenous Tibetan religion, is followed by the overwhelming majority of Tibetans and Mongolians.

Taoism, a native Chinese religion, originated at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), a century after Buddhism's arrival. Taoists regard Lao Zi or "Old boy" (believed to be an old man with a long white beard from birth) as their founder. His world-famous 5,000 character Dao De Jing is their holy book. There are now about 1,500 Taoist temples in China with some 250,000 Taoist priests and nuns.

Islam came to China in the mid-7th century, after Buddhism had already spread to most parts of the country inhabited by the Han people, the largest ethnic group. That explains why Chinese Moslems, who total about 18 million, are mostly within 10 Islamic minorities, including the Hui and Uygur, living in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. There are about 30,000 mosques served by around 40,000 priests called Imams or Ahungs. Roughly the same number of devotees have made the pilgrimage to Mecca since the 1980s.

Although Nestorian Christians arrived in China before the 7th century, the Christian faith did not plant itself firmly until the 16th century, when the Ming emperors allowed Jesuit priests, led by Matteo Ricci, to locate in Beijing and other cities. There are now about 4 million Catholics with around 4,600 churches and a slightly smaller number of clerical personnel. By comparison, Protestant missionaries began to appear much later, around the time of the First Opium War(1840). Yet Protestant Christian denominations enjoyed a much more rapid dissemination, with believers reaching 10 million and missionaries surpassing 18,000. There are now 12,000 Protestant churches in China.

There is no state religion in China and no religion has ever predominated over the nation. All religions have equal status. As a result, harmon reigns among religions in China. In a sense, Confucianism is not really a religion, despite its dminance in Chinese history. The Confucian goal of close harmony between Man and Nature, the Chinese ideal of benevolence, tolerance and unity, the historical preference for rule by moral power to rule by force and the spirit of "all men are brothers inside the four seas"combined to create an ages-long environment for harmonious coexistence among religions in China and the absence of inter-religious wars. In fact, in the course of the country's long history, the various religions have become part of Chinese tradition, thought and culture. The advocacy since 1949 of patriotism, national equality and mutual respect has further enhanced this religious harmony.

Since believers of the same religion comprise nearly the entire population of some minority nationalities, freedom of belief is closely related to the protection of autonomous rights and human rights of national minorities in areas inhabited by Tibetans, Huis (Moslems) and other ethnic groups.

During the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976), however, all religious institutions suffered severely. After 1978, churches, mosques and temples were reopened with the help of their reactivated religious associations and the Bureau of Religious Affairs. The government has spent heavily since then to refurbish and build new churches, mosques and temples across the country, especially in Tibet. In the 1982 constitution, more definitive stipulations were decreed to ensure freedom of religious belief as a basic right,

This has resulted in expansion of religious institutions and their activities in the past two decades as the country launched reforms and opened to the world. Christians now account for 14 times the figure in 1949. All the religious institutions have reactivated their national associations, and have established 74institutions of higher leaming. Each organization defines its own aims, handles its own religious affairs, publishes its own journals for distribution at home and abroad and prints millions of copies of religious canons. The national Tibetan Studies Center even published an edition of the Tibetan language Gangyur of Tripitaka, an encyclopedic Buddhist scripture. By the end of 1996 more than 18 million copies of the Bible had been printed, with special-tax exempt treatment speeding their publication.

Freedom of religious belief has also increased the participation of believers in social-welfare activities and state affairs. Over 11,000 religious personages are delegates to People's Congresses and Political Consultative Conferences at all levels.

Meanwhile, China's religious communities have than 70 countries and territories. Parishes nationwide welcome 100,000 Catholic visitors from over 90 countries annually. On their recent China tour, a delegation of American religious leaders was deeply impressed with the thriving religious activities here. Indeed China's religious communities have evolved into an important social force, full of vigor in national life and in the modernization drive in China today.