What is chinas religion

Since the s, approximately Protestant churches have been reopened or rebuilt each year in China. By the end of more than 18 million copies of the Bible had been printed, with special tax exemption treatment speeding their publication. In addition, more than eight million copies of a hymn book published by the China Christian Council in have been distributed. From to , a total of Catholic bishops were selected and ordained by the Chinese Catholic church itself.

In the past dozen years more than young Catholic priests have been trained or consecrated by Chinese Catholicism. More than 3, Protestants attend the Sunday service at Chongwenmen church in Beijing each week. The Beijing Nantang Catholic Cathedral observes Mass four times each week with an attendance of more than 2, Of these, one Mass is held in English specially for foreigners in Beijing. In the course of the country's long history, the various religions in China have become part of the traditional Chinese thinking and culture.

It is traditional for Chinese religious believers to love their country and religions. The Chinese government supports and encourages the religious circles to unite the religious believers to actively participate in the construction of the country. The various religions all advocate serving the society and promoting people's well-being, such as the Buddhists' ''honoring the country and benefiting the people,'' the Catholics and Protestants' ''glorifying God and benefiting the people,'' the Taoists' ''being benevolent, peaceful and harmonious, saving the world and benefiting the people,'' and the Islam's ''praying to allah to give great reward in this world and hereafter.

Religious disputes are unknown in China. Religious believers and non-believers respect each other, are united and have a harmonious relationship. This shows, on the one hand, the influence of traditional Chinese compatibility and tolerance, and, on the other, the fact that since the founding of the People's Republic of China in the Chinese government has formulated and carried out the policy of freedom of religious belief and established a politico-religious relationship that conforms to China 's national conditions.

Legal Protection of the Freedom of Religious Belief. Chinese citizens' right to the freedom of religious belief is protected by the Constitution and laws. In the Constitution of the People's Republic of China freedom of religious belief is a basic right enjoyed by all citizens.

Article 36 of the Constitution stipulates, ''Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. The Chinese government has promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of Sites for Religious Activities so as to protect the lawful rights and interests of such sites. The Regulations specify: Sites for religious activities shall be run independently by the administrative organizations thereof, whose lawful rights and interests and normal religious activities at the sites shall be protected by law.

No organization or individual may violate or interfere with such rights, interests or activities. Anyone who encroaches on the lawful rights and interests of the sites for religious activities shall bear legal responsibilities.

Religious activities conducted at the sites, however, must conform to laws and regulations. China respects the freedom of religious belief of aliens within Chinese territory and protects their friendly contacts and cultural and academic exchanges with Chinese religious circles with respect to religion. Aliens may participate in religious activities at recognized sites for religious activities within Chinese territory. They may also preach at the invitation of Chinese religious bodies at or above the provincial level.

Aliens may hold religious activities attended by aliens at sites approved by people's governments at or above the county level. They may invite Chinese clerical personnel to conduct such religious rituals as baptisms, weddings, funerals and prayer meetings, and may bring with them printed religious matter, audio-visual religious material and other religious articles for personal use while entering Chinese territory. Aliens who conduct religious activities within Chinese territory shall abide by Chinese laws and regulations.

The legal protection of citizens' right to the freedom of religious belief in China is basically in accordance with the main contents of the concerned international documents and conventions in this respect. According to Chinese law, while all citizens enjoy the right to freedom of religious belief they must also carry out duties prescribed by law.

In China , all individuals and organizations, including all religions, must safeguard the people's interests, the sanctity of the law, ethnic unity and unification of the nation. This is in conformity with the relevant clauses of the UN documents and conventions on human rights.

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief states: ''Freedom to manifest one's religion or belief may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health or morals or the fundamental rights and freedom of others. This is a basic requirement for modern civilization and nations subject to the rule of law. Each country has its own history, culture and national conditions, which decide that each country's protection of freedom of religious belief has its own characteristics.

While stressing the protection of freedom of religious belief China pays equal attention to the protection of the freedom not to believe in religion, thus ensuring freedom of religious belief in a complete sense. This is a more complete and more comprehensive protection of citizens' basic rights. The Chinese government maintains that religious belief is a citizen's personal affair.

However, the construction of a prosperous, powerful, democratic modern socialist country with advanced culture, and the safeguarding of the country's sovereignty and national dignity are the common goals and in the fundamental interest of Chinese people of all ethnic groups, including those who believe in a religion and those who do not. Therefore the people who believe in a religion and those who do not can unite and cooperate politically, and respect each other's beliefs.

Religion should be adapted to the society in which it is prevalent. This is a universal law for the existence and development of religion. Now the Chinese people are building China into a modern socialist country with Chinese characteristics. The Chinese government advocates that religion should adapt to this reality. However, such adaptation does not require citizens to give up religious belief, nor does it require any religion to change its basic doctrines.

Instead, it requires religions to conduct their activities within the sphere prescribed by law and adapt to social and cultural progress. This conforms to the fundamental interests of religious believers as well as to those of the various religions themselves.

Nevertheless, since the s some pernicious organizations have sprung up in certain areas of China , which engage in illegal and even criminal activities under the signboard of religion. Some of the heads of these pseudo-religions distort religious doctrines, create heresies, deceive the masses, refuse to obey the State's laws and decrees, and incite people to overthrow the government.

Some pretend to be supernatural beings, and have killed or injured people; others organize promiscuity, or defraud people of money or property. They are a serious danger to the normal life and productive activities of the people. The broad masses of the people and personages of the religious circles detest this phenomenon, and so, in order to safeguard the public interest and the sanctity of the law, and to better protect the people's right to freedom of religious belief and normal religious activities, China's judicial organs punish law-breakers and criminals who severely endanger the society and the public interest in accordance with the law.

The punishment of criminals by China 's judicial organs in accordance with the law has nothing to do with religious belief. No one in China is punished because of his or her religious belief. But no country that practices the rule of law in the world today would tolerate illegal and criminal activities being carried out under the banner of religion.

With respect to judicial guarantee, China stipulates clearly the penalties for the infringement of citizens' right to freedom of religious belief. For instance, Article of the Criminal Law states: ''State personnel who unlawfully deprive citizens of their freedom of religious belief and infringe upon the customs and habits of minority ethnic groups, when the circumstances are serious, are to be sentenced to not more than two years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention.

A people's procuratorate shall also put on record cases of illegally closing or destroying lawful religious sites and other religious facilities. In recent years the Chinese judiciary, in accordance with the law, has tried several cases of infringing upon relevant laws of the State and seriously hurting the religious feelings of certain believers, and has meted out punishments to persons responsible for the offenses.

With respect to administrative guarantee, governments at different levels have set up religious affairs departments to administer and supervise the implementation of the laws and statutes pertaining to religion and to put the policy ensuring the freedom of religious belief into effect. They engage with varied beliefs and practices, a pattern of religious piety dating back centuries to ancient imperial China.

There are also the popular practices of geomancy or feng shui , an ancient art of harmonizing humans with their surroundings, and divination or fortunetelling. These rich traditions often have regional variations, such as the veneration of Mazu, a sea goddess , which is especially prevalent in southeast China and Taiwan.

Originally a patron goddess of seafarers, Mazu is widely worshiped by people from all walks of life and promoted as an important symbol of local culture. The Communist Party has also stopped criticizing the teachings of Confucius, the famous philosopher and educator of the sixth and fifth centuries B.

For much of the 20th century, Confucian teachings were rejected as discredited relics of an imperial past. But that changed over recent decades, as the party sought to reposition itself as the guardian of Chinese traditions.

This contributed to a significant revival of Confucianism. But the party has also found it useful to harness aspects of Confucianism that resonate with its core interests, such as obedience to authority and respect for the leader.

Accordingly, the government has supported reestablishment of Confucian temples and institutes. It has also sponsored conferences on Confucianism and even organized lectures on Confucian teachings for party officials. Adopting attitudes and methods with long-established precedents in the dynastic history of imperial China, the communist government positions itself as the ultimate arbiter of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, or proper and improper religious practices. Religious leaders must support the party and follow its directives.

Authorities keep firm administrative control over all forms of religious expressions and organizations, by whatever means they deem prudent or necessary. As we know from the reports of Western scholars and journalists, that control ranges from subtle forms of domination and co-option of religious groups to outright bans or repressions.

In , the government removed 1, crosses from church buildings across Zhejiang province. Many objects, whatever religion they are ascribed to, share the same symbolic motifs, and Buddhist and Daoist temples were similar in many respects. This is typical of the inter-relatedness of the different forms of Chinese worship. Pair of ancestor portraits, Museum nos. The husband and wife portraits shown here are ancestor portraits and would have played a part in the ceremonies of reference that all Chinese families carried out in honour of their forebears.

They would have been displayed on special occasions such as New Year and birthdays, when the living members of the family would make offerings to the spirits of their dead relatives at altars within their own home or at a family temple. These services were family affairs and not a public form of worship. The veneration of past generations, a practice that dates from at least the Bronze Age in China, was incorporated by Confucius - BC into a set of rules about how to live a worthy life.

This moral system, which still influences life in China today, was based on the 'five relationships', - between ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder brother and younger brother, and friend and friend. Confucius believed that if everyone accepted their place in the social hierarchy and behaved appropriately, the country would be at peace and free from natural disasters such as earthquakes.

Confucianism was not much concerned with the spiritual life and so perhaps cannot strictly be called a religion, but its code was central to people's lives in the same way as a religion's creed might be.

Confucius said, 'There are five things and whoever is capable of putting them into practice in the Empire is certainly 'benevolent'. If a man is respectful he will not be treated with insolence. If he is tolerant he will win the multitude. If he is trustworthy in word his fellow men will entrust him with responsibility.

If he is quick he will achieve results. If he is generous he will be good enough to be put in a position over his fellow men. Detail of a robe for a Daoist priest, Museum no. Daoism started as a set of philosophical ideas about BC, not long after the time of Confucius.