China is officially an atheist country. That said, China adopts a pragmatic approach to religion and belief systems. Elements of many religions are incorporated into Chinese society, including Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity. In theory, the Chinese people have freedom of religious belief, however there are only two officially sanctioned forms of Christianity – the Catholic Church, which does not have any ties to the Vatican and the "Three-Self Patriotic" Protestant Church.

It is often difficult to pigeonhole Chinese people to a particular belief, as they will often practice elements of more than one. However, Buddhism is the most widely adopted religion, possibly followed by Taoism and Confucianism. Official figures indicate that there are 18 million Muslims, 10 million Protestants and 4 million Catholics. The actual figures could be much higher.

Religion tends to go hand in hand with ethnicity. North western China is traditionally Muslim. Mongolia, Tibet and south western China are predominately Buddhist. Those of the majority Han population who are religious are split between Buddhism, Protestantism, Catholicism and Taoism.

Foreigners in China are generally free to practice religion, but preaching to Chinese citizens or attempting to convert them to a religion is illegal. There are a number of Churches and religious meeting places in most of the larger cities, and many will conduct services in English. Some religious services (outside of formal churches) that foreigners attend only admit foreign passport holders, as required by Chinese law.

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