by Zhao Miaomiao & Xiong Lei

When he returned to China in 2001 three years after he went to the United States as an exchange student at the State University of Colorado, Denver, Xin Min was surprised to find "an increasing number of young Christians" in China's mainland.

"Like me," says the 25-year-old private business agent in Beijing, "many of them were converted to Christianity while studying abroad." He says that churchgoing and Bible study helped him shake off nostalgia and get adapted to all entirely different environment during his stay in the U.S. and have became a important part of his spiritual life.

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 held in a church."

Although he feels the religious belief makes him different from his atheist peers, Cao says it is by no means a barrier for him to "forge true friendship" 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 for 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 lo it and open five ports.

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, exceeding 10 million in number, are ten times as many followers 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 ten 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 Xiaowen, 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 attend 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% of Beijing's population of over 13 million, not everything is conveniently scheduled for us", says 29-year-old Huang Jiesong, a pious Muslim while a school teacher. Not to miss one single alsalat while away from home, she would carry a big handbag containing her special wear for praying so that she can drop in 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's food, and never 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 implementation of the policy of religious freedom.

One example is the pilgrimage to Mt. Kangrin Poche, 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 attracted believers of these religions for worshipping.

Over the centuries pilgrims would defy the high altitude, thin air and other harsh natural conditions on the "roof of the world" to make circuits 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 them have been financially strong enough to realize their dream," Cering Jiabu says.

While the "year of the horse" by China's traditional calendar, the year 2002 is at the same time 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, started the sacred walking round the mountain. By October. usually the end of the tourism season, the mountain may have received 100,000 pilgrims and tourists, against 9.000 in 2001. 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 at the foot of the mountain, 4,800 meters above sea level.

"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.

The five religions in China- Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism and Taoism have more than 100 million believers, according to Ye Xiaowen. 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, nuns. etc. In operation are 74 schools of religions 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 religious affairs. "Religious affairs brook no interference from outside so long as these are conducted in a legal manner," Bishop Fu Tieshan 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 legitimate 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 for 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.

While religious publications are available at religious sites to all visitors - believers or non-believers, 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 concedes. "All religions are equal in status under Chinese laws."

"Our respect for freedom of religious belief stems from 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 glory 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 everyday" Church leaders from the relatively developed coastal areas traveled to Xinjiang in the far west in 2001 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 mustn't do anything detrimental to the country and other people."

A devout churchgoer, Wang's only desire is that more places of worship will be built. Every time she goes for the Sunday service, she says, "I have to get to the church one hour and a half ahead of the schedule, or I could find no room in the church."

To her delight, the municipal government of Beijing has invested 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) to have two new Protestant churches built this year. The churches, to be located 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.

Speaking on relations between religions and society, says Ye Xiaowen, "the guiding principle should be one of inclusiveness, not discrimination; exchange, not mutual exclusion; dialogue, not confrontation; coexistence, not conflict, and progress, not retrogression."

"Provided this principle is adhered to," he summarizes, "religions can contribute to world peace and development of countries."