A Brief Introduction of China¡¯s Religions
China¡¯s main religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity. Religions with fewer adherents are the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity and numerous regional faiths, as practiced by China¡¯s ethnic minorities.
Buddhism was brought to China from India in about the first century AD and slowly divided into three branches, depending on which language group was practicing it, Han, Bali or Tibetan, the Tibetan form is now also known as Lamaism. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how many practitioners of Buddhism exist in China, especially among the speakers of Han Chinese, since Buddhism is widely distributed and keeps no formal records of newcomers to the faith. ...
Taoism is a religion that originated in China, appearing around the second century AD. ... Six hundred Taoist temples are opened to the public across China, and about 6000 Taoist monks and nuns live and worship in them. The Taoist Association of China was founded in 1957 and runs one Taoist institute of studies. It publishes China¡¯s Taoism.
Islam was introduced to China in the seventh century AD. ... The national association for China¡¯s Muslims is the Islamic Organization of China, founded in 1953. A total of nine institutes teach Islamic studies under its auspices, and its official publication is China¡¯s Muslims.
Christianity first came into China in the 13th century in the form of Catholicism, but did not really begin to make its presence felt until three centuries later, when the big Western powers established their colonies in China during the 16th century. ... Before the founding of the People¡¯s Republic of China, Catholicism in China was controlled entirely by foreign clergy, and no Chinese adherents had the right to handle their own religious affairs.
Even after liberation, certain foreign powers attempted to influence China¡¯s domestic affairs by means of the Catholic religion. This irritated China¡¯s Catholics, leading to a patriotic movement among them to do away with imperialist meddling and for the first time gain independence in conducting their own religion. Today China has about 4 million Catholics, 2700 clergy, 4000 churches and cathedrals, 11 seminaries and dozens of convents. ... China¡¯s Catholicism is the official publication for Catholics in this country. The Protestant Church did not enter China until the beginning of the 19th century. After the Opium War, China was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties, one of the results of which was that foreign Protestants were given the right to do missionary work in China. ...
Today China has 6. ... The two national organizations are the Self-Dependence Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches of China, set up in 1954, and the China Christian Council, established in 1980. ... No organization or individual is allowed to make use of religion to oppose the people¡¯s government, or to disrupt the socialist system, the harmony of the state, or the unity of the different ethnic groups in China. ...
All of China¡¯s religious groups are to remain free of interference from outside in such matters as running their own churches and faiths. Since neither China¡¯s government nor its theological organizations interfere in the religious worship of other countries, they expect the same impartiality from their foreign counterparts. ... China simply does not wish to see its religious organizations and religious affairs controlled by forces outside its own border. ...
By now China¡¯s religious organizations have established links with more that 70 countries and regions, stimulating friendship and mutual understanding between them. ... A number of organizations and individuals in China have joined international religious associations and have taken part in world theological conferences. ...
In the past few years also, some of China¡¯s state leaders have received and held discussions with representatives of over seas religious circles. ...
China¡¯s stability in politics and social affairs prove its success in dealing with problems pertaining to its divers and numerous religious adherents, and confirms that is policy such groups is the correct one. ... Buddhism in China
This was the only foreign religion to be absorbed into and changed by Chinese culture, contributing in many ways to the country¡¯s cultural development. ... They returned with two monks on a white horse, and he set interpretation is that Buddhism came to China along the Silk Route in the century AD, and by the third and fourth centuries was well established particularly among the non-Han Wei and Toba emperors, who created the famous grottoes at Datong, Luoyang and Dunhuang. ...
Chan Buddhism --- or Zen as it is more commonly known¡ªwas a development peculiar to China. ...
During the Tang Dynasty Buddhism flourished in China, and made enormous contributions to Chinese culture. ...
Relics of Buddhism are found all over China today. ...
The eminent philosopher Lao-tzu was the first person in China¡¯s history to systematically promote theories of dialectics, which applied to all sectors of society. ... Known as the encyclopedia of ancient China, it has been translated into several foreign languages and spread abroad about 1000years ago. ...
Taoism is a religion that originated in China, appearing around the second century AD. ... Protestant Church
Mu¡¯en Church
Protestantism was first brought to China in the early 19th century and spread widely after the Opium War in 1840. There are about 10 million Protestants, over 18000 clergy and more than 12000 churches throughout China. ... The well-arranged architecture around it belongs to the Mu¡¯en Church, the largest protestant church in Shanghai and also the first of its kind in China which resumed activities in 1979 after the 10-year ¡°cultural revolution¡± (1966 ~1976). ... After the founding of New China, foreign Christians who attended services here gradually decreased in number. ... Some church dignitaries from foreign countries, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan invited as guests by the Church in China have delivered sermons or messages of greetings in this church. ... The Chinese Catholic Church
There are altogether 115 parishes with 4 million Catholics throughout China. ... Currently, China has 70 bishops and nearly 1000 priests. ... The Chinese Catholic Church now has its own publishing house, with a bi-monthly magazine entitled China ¡®s Catholicism. ...
China¡¯s Catholic Church shares identical beliefs with Catholicism worldwide, as well as with Vatican in Rome. ...
Catholicism was introduced to China in 1294. ...
In 1582, the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci came to China, bringing not only the Gospel of Christ but also Western culture and science. ...
Following the Opium War in 1840, major foreign powers forced China to sign a series of unequal treaties. This reduced China to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. Backed by these unequal treaties, many of the foreign missionaries who came to China consciously of unconsciously served the politics of their own countries. ... By 1949, at the founding of New China, there were 137 parishes with 2.7 million followers throughout China. ... It is only natural that at that time, Catholicism was called a ¡°foreign religion¡± in China and membership in the Catholic Church was considered unpatriotic. ...
Xujiahui Cathedral
A most famous Catholic sanctuary in China, Xujiahui Cathedral was built in 1904, closing to the end of the last imperial dynasty¡ªQing, as the cathedral of the Catholic Shanghai parish. ... Islam in China
Mohammad, the founder of Islam, once told his disciples that knowledge should be striven for even though it be as far away as to China.
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