The People’s Republic of China is officially secular and atheist, but does allow personal religion or supervised religious organization. Buddhism (Chinese: 佛教; pinyin: Fójiào) and Taoism (Chinese: 道教; pinyin: Dàojiào), along with an underlying Confucian morality, have been the dominant religions of Chinese society for almost two millennia. Personal religion is more widely tolerated in the PRC today, resurrecting interest in Buddhism, Islam, and Taoism. The main Buddhism tradition practiced by the Chinese is Mahayana Buddhism (Chinese: 大乘; pinyin: Dàshèng). Its subsets Pure Land (Chinese: 淨土宗; pinyin: jìng tǔ zōng) and Chan (Simplified Chinese: 禅宗; Traditional Chinese: 禪宗; pinyin: Chánzōng) are the most common. Among the younger, urban secular population, spiritual ideas of Feng Shui have become popular in recent years, spawning a large home decoration market in China. The Central Intelligence Agency of the United States reports that in addition to unknown numbers of adherents of Taoism and Buddhism,
3%–4% Chinese from the People’s Republic of China are adherents of Christianity, and
1%–2% Chinese from the People’s Republic of China are adherents of Islam.
Religion and ancient Chinese traditions are widely tolerated in the Republic of China, and play a big role in the daily lives of modern Taiwanese people. According to the official figures released by the CIA:
- 93% of Taiwanese are adherents of a combination of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.
- 4.5% of Taiwanese are adherents of Christianity. This includes a combination of Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and non-denominational Christian groups.
- 2.5% of Taiwanese are adherents of other religions such as Islam, Judaism, and the Bahá’í Faith.
Source: Wikipedia