"Like me," says the 25-year-old private business agent in Beijing, "many of them converted to Christianity while studying abroad."

He says that church-going and Bible studies helped him shake off nostalgia for home and adapt to an entirely different environment during his stay in the United States. "These have become an important part of my spiritual life," he concedes.

But unlike Xin, Cao Gaojun, a 24-year-old economics major from Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province, believes in Christianity due to the family influence. "All my grandparents and parents are devout believers," he says. "I was baptized when I was a baby. My biggest dream now is to have my wedding in a church."

Although he feels his religious belief makes him different from his atheist peers, Cao says it is by no means a barrier for him to "forge true friendships" with them.

"The spreading of Christianity in China following the Opium War in 1840 was accompanied by the misery of the Chinese nation," says Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs (SARA). Defeated by the invading Britons, China, then under the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was forced to sign the humiliating Nanjing Treaty, and to indemnify 21 million taels of silver for Britain, cede Hong Kong and open five ports.

Diversity of Religions

Despite the bitter history, Ye says, the Chinese Government has ensured freedom of belief in Christianity and all other religions since the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. "Freedom of religious belief is written in China's Constitution, and the government has been working hard to uphold its policy of religious freedom and manage religious affairs according to law," he says.

"Christianity has indeed witnessed a vigorous development since the founding of New China, "says Bishop Michael Fu Tieshan, chairman of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Consecrated by China's independent Catholic Church in 1979, Fu is the third Chinese serving as bishop of the Beijing Diocese since European missionaries brought Catholicism to China more than 400 years ago.

Over the past 50 years and more, says the bishop, the number of Chinese Catholics increased from 3 million to 4 million, and Protestants, now exceeding 10 million in number, are 10 times as many as in 1949. "Christianity has been experiencing a golden age over the past two decades," Bishop Fu says.

In the words of Imam Chen Guangyuan, president of the Chinese Islamic Association, "this is the best of all times in the Chinese history for religions."

The country has 10 Muslim ethnic groups, which have a combined population of 20 million living mostly in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu of West China and Yunnan in the southwest. According to Ye, an estimated 18 million of them are devout followers of Islam.

In areas where Muslims live in compact communities, there is little problem for adherents to practice Islamic rituals. But in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai where Muslims account for just a fraction of the local population, followers may find it a challenge to fulfill the religious duty of performing the five "alsalats" or prayers, every day.

"As Muslims account for no more than 1.7 percent of Beijing's population of over 13 billion, not everything is conveniently scheduled for us," says 29-year-old Huang Jiesong, a pious Muslim woman and a school teacher. Not to miss a single alsalat while away from home, she carries a big handbag containing her special wear for praying so that she can drop in at a nearby mosque to pray when it is time for that.

Bai Huafan, a 70-year-old Muslim also in Beijing, says his three sons are too busy to perform the daily five alsalats. "I don't force them to strictly observe the religious rituals, but I do ask them never to eat pork and other non-Muslim food, and never to forget they are Muslims," says the retired civil servant. "So long as they always remember this, it's OK."

Professor Cering Jiabu, a scholar on Tibetan religions with the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences in Lhasa, observes a thriving Buddhism in Tibet, thanks to the policy of religious freedom.

One example is the pilgrimage to Mountain Kangrin Poche, which is revered as the most sacred place in the universe by Tibetan Buddhists, Hindus, Jains as well as followers of the ancient Tibetan Bon faith that pre-dated Buddhism. Known as Mt Kailash to westerners, the "jewel of snowy mountains" in western Tibet has attracts believers of these religions for worship.

Over the centuries, pilgrims have defied the high altitude, thin air and other harsh natural conditions on the "roof of the world" to walk round the mountain every year, believing the act would purify them of sins.

But few Tibetan believers could afford the trip in the past. "Increasing numbers of people are now financially strong to realize their dream," Cering Jiabu says.

While this year is the "year of the horse" in the Chinese traditional calendar, it is also the "year of the water horse" by the Tibetan calendar, or the "year of the mountain" that comes once in a cycle of 60 years. That explains why Kangrin Poche has seen more pilgrims this year than ever before.

On May 26, 2002, the "Sagadawa Day" for celebration of Sakyamuni the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death, nearly 30,000 pilgrims from Tibet and other parts of China, plus several hundred foreign visitors, performed the sacred walk round the mountain.

By October, usually the end of the tourist season, the mountain may have received 100,000 pilgrims and tourists, against 9,000 last year.

To facilitate pilgrimage in this "year of the water horse" the local government has set up improvised medical, postal and telecom facilities at the camping ground.

"Whoever has misgivings about religious life in China today should come to Mt Kangrin Poche and see for themselves," says Laba Cering, a Tibetan journalist based in Lhasa, who covered the pilgrimage in May.

Peaceful Coexistence

The five religions in China "Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism and Taoism "together have more than 100 million believers, according to Ye. There are more than 85,000 sites reserved for performance of religious rituals throughout the country, where religious believers are serviced by 300,000 priests, monks or nuns. In operation are 74 schools of religious learning "theological seminaries and schools of Buddhism, Islam and Taoism.

Religious organizations, which number more than 3,000 across the country, are independent in running their affairs. "Religious affairs brook no interference from outside so long as these are conducted in a legal manner," Bishop Fu says. "Chinese laws forbid attempts in any form to publicize atheism at religious sites. The government protects, in accordance with the Constitution and laws, all clerical and worshipping activities whether in churches or at believers' homes. The policy applies to all religions."

According to the 71-year-old spiritual leader of Chinese Catholics, organizations of Chinese religions have established contacts with their counterparts in more than 70 countries and regions in the world.

Besides, the religious circles have representation in people's congresses of all levels and national and local committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Religious publications are available at religious sites to all visitors "believers or not. Religious websites are open to the entire society. The Chinese Buddhism Online (www.fjnet.com) runs forums and discussions on Buddhism. It may be interesting to note that on www.chinacatholic.org, Chinese Catholics can share their experiences in trying to exert a positive influence on non-believers.

"The government encourages mutual respect between religious believers and non-religious believers," Bishop Fu says. "All religions are equal in status under Chinese laws."

"Our policy of respecting the freedom of religious belief is based on our respect for China's objective reality," says Ye Xiaowen. "It conforms to dialectical materialism that we, as atheists, uphold."

On their part, says Reverend Cao Shengjie, newly elected president of China Christian Council (CCC), spiritual leaders should do their best to "help people lead a happy spiritual life and glorify God by serving believers and society at large."

The Suiling Diocese of the Catholic Church in Heilongjiang encourages believers to "perform a good deed and help a non-believer every day" Church leaders from the relatively developed coastal areas traveled to Xinjiang in China's far west last year to see what the church could do to help people there eliminate poverty.

"A real Christian should be a good citizen first," says Wang Suying, a 68-year-old Protestant in Beijing. "As good citizens, we certainly should not do anything detrimental to the country and other people."

A devout churchgoer, Wang's only desire is that more places of worship are built. Every time she goes for Sunday service, she says, "I have to get to the church one and half hour ahead of the schedule, or I cannot get into the church."

To her delight, the municipal government of Beijing is spending 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) to have two new Protestant churches built this year.

The churches, now under construction in eastern and southern Beijing, will be large enough for 1,500 worshippers each, according to Beijing Religious Affairs Administration.

The municipal government of Beijing has already spent more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million) renovating Protestant and Catholic churches over the past 20 years.

For the relationship between religions and society, the guiding principle practiced in China is one of "inclusiveness, yes, discrimination, no; exchange, yes, mutual exclusion, no; dialogue, yes, confrontation, no; coexistence in peace and harmony, yes, conflict, no; and progress, yes, retrogression, no."

"Provided this principle is adhered to," Ye summarizes, "we believe that religions can contribute to world peace and development of countries."

(China Daily HK Edition September 19, 2002)