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China is a country with great diversity of religions, with over 100
million followers of the various faiths. The main religions are Buddhism,
Islam, Christianity, China’s indigenous Taoism, along with Shamanism, Eastern
Orthodox Christianity and the Naxi people’s Dongba religion. The Hui, Uygur,
Kazak, Kirgiz, Tatar, Ozbek, Tajik, Dongxiang, Salar and Bonan peoples adhere
to Islam; the Tibetan, Mongolian, Lhoba, Moinba, Tu and Yugur, to Tibetan
Buddhism, and the Dai, Blang and Deang to Theravada Buddhism. Quite a few Miao,
Yao and Yi are Christians. Religious Han Chinese tend to practice Buddhism,
Christianity or Taoism.
Buddhism was introduced to China from India approximately in the first century
A.D., becoming increasingly popular after the fourth century. Tibetan Buddhism,
or Lamaism as it is sometimes called, is found primarily in Tibet and Inner
Mongolia. Now China has more than 13,000 Buddhist temples, with about 200,000
monks and nuns.
Islam probably first reached China in the mid-seventh century. During the Tang
(618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, Arab and Persian merchants of the
Islamic faith came overland through Central Asia to northwest China and by sea
to the coastal cities in southeastern China, bringing with them the Islamic
faith. The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) witnessed the zenith of prosperity of
Islam. Now China has more than 30,000 mosques and more than 40,000 imams and
ahungs.
Christianity reached China several times after the seventh century, and was
introduced to the country on a large scale after the Opium War of 1840. Now
there are about four million Catholic believers, 4,000 clergy and more than
4,600 churches and meeting places in China.
Protestantism was introduced to China in the early 19th century, and spread
widely after the Opium War. Now China has about 10 million Protestant
believers, 18,000 clergy, and more than 12,000 churches and 25,000 other
centers of worship.
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