Religions in China
China is a multi-religious country. Taoism, Buddhism, lslamism, Protestantism and Catholicism have all developed quite a following in this country. Freedom of belief is a government policy, and normal religious activities are protected by the constitution.
Buddhism spread form India to China some 2000 years ago. Chinese Buddhism may be classified according to languages into three communities: Mandarin, Tibetan and Bali. Most of the Mandarin Buddhist believers are Han Chinese while Tibetan Buddhist (generally called Lamaist) believers are people of the Tibetan, Mongolian, Yugur, Lhoba, Moinba and Tu nationalities, and Bali Buddhist believers are people of the Dai and Blang ethnic groups. Of all the religious communities in China, the Buddhist is the largest. However, since quite a few of Han believers are not always steadfast followers of Buddhism, it is hard to count their exact numbers.
Taoism is native and has a history of more than 1.700 years. Its founder was Lao tzu and its doctrines are based on his writings, the taoteching. Taoism, a polytheistic religion, is still quite influential in rural areas inhabited by Han Chinese.
Islam spread from the Arab Countries to China more than 1,300 years ago. It now has more than 14 million believers among the Hui, Uygur, Kazal, Ozbek, Tajik, Tatar, Kirgiz, Dongxiang Sala and Banan ethnic groups.
Catholicism and other forms of Christianity began to make their way into China very early. In 635 Dopan, a missionary of the Nestorian sect came to China from Persia, then called JING. The religion withered long before gaining a strong foothold in China. It was after the Sino-British Opium War in 1840 that the Christian developed rapidly in China. After the founding of New China, Chinese Catholic and Christian communities took the path of independence and self administration. Now there are more than 3.3 million catholic and nearly 5 million protestants in the country.
In addition, there are also members of the Orthodox Eastern Church and of other religions among minority groups.
No religion has ever assumed a dominant position in China. Foreign religions, influenced and assimilated by time-honored Chinese Culture and tradition have gradually become religions with Chinese characteristic. Religious believers make up only a tiny proportion of the 1.1 billion Chinese people.
- Top - or Back to - China Overview
Design your own tour with our help to meet your unique interests, You don't have to compromise, do exactly what you want to do! Let us assist you to tailor-make your own China Experience.