POPULATION 1,284,303,705
CHINESE POPULAR RELIGIONIST 29.2 percent
BUDDHIST 8 percent
ATHEIST 8.1 percent
CHRISTIAN 6.5 percent
TRIBAL RELIGIONIST 4.3 percent
MUSLIM 1.7 percent
NONRELIGIONIST 42.1 percent
OTHER less than 0.1 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

China is the world's most populous country and the fourth largest in area. About four-fifths of its population are peasants; one-fifth works in industry and trade in urban centers. The Han Chinese are the dominant ethnic group (92 percent), but there are more than 50 ethnic minorities (over 100 million people) in China, most of whom live in regions bordering other countries.

The country's largest faith is Chinese popular religion, a syncretic belief system that originated in the second millennium B.C.E. and that later borrowed elements of both religious (not philosophical) Taoism (Daoism) and Confucianism. Taoism, a Chinese religion founded in the second century C.E., incorporated Buddhist deities into its pantheon, and many Taoist gods and ritual practices were then amalgamated into popular...