Religion in China: Five Faiths and Three Buddhisms

01Five Religions, and the Parts Open

What religions does China have, and which parts are open to visitors?

China is usually described as the only country where all three schools of Buddhism are established at scale, and each occupies a distinct piece of geography. The religious China a visitor sees is a map, not a slogan. Han Buddhism covers the central plains and the south, Tibetan Buddhism covers the plateau and its eastern rim, Theravada Buddhism covers the south-western border with Myanmar and Laos. Walk into the wrong region expecting the wrong school, and the architecture, the robes, the rituals and the rules will all surprise you.

The first correction is that Buddhism is not the only religion here. The state recognises five: Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestant Christianity. Daoism is the only one indigenous to China, and the temples a visitor most often walks into on a mountain trip — Qingcheng 青城山, Wudang 武当山 — are Daoist, not Buddhist. The mosques in Xi'an 西安 and Kashgar 喀什 are also active religious sites, not museums. A first-time visitor who plans only around Buddhist temples will miss half the religious landscape.

The second correction is that the largest category on the map has no official colour. Folk religion — Mazu, City God, Earth God, Guan Yu 关羽, the God of Wealth — is not counted among the five, yet it is the most visible form of devotion along the coast and in the countryside. Mazu belief was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009. The incense a visitor sees in Quanzhou 泉州, Putian 莆田 and many small towns is more likely to be folk religion than any of the five organised faiths. "Religious China" is not coextensive with "registered religious venues."

The third correction is that Confucianism is not a religion, but Confucius 孔子 temples are temples. The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius in Qufu 曲阜 is a UNESCO site, the Dacheng Hall looks like an imperial hall, and sacrifices to Confucius follow a ritual code. Scholars have long debated whether Confucianism counts as a religion; this page states that the debate exists and takes no side. For a visitor, the practical point is that Qufu behaves like a pilgrimage site even though the faith system it represents does not fit the five-religion frame.

How to use this page. Read the map in block 02 before you book the region. If Tibetan Buddhist culture is what draws you, the eastern rim — Qinghai 青海, southern Gansu 甘肃, western Sichuan 四川, north-western Yunnan 云南 — offers the same monasteries, prayer wheels and butter 酥油 lamps as the Tibet 西藏 Autonomous Region, without the same entry permit. If Theravada temples are the appeal, Xishuangbanna 西双版纳 and Dehong 德宏 in Yunnan are where the golden spires and orange robes are. The map tells you which part of the country matches what you came to see.

02The Map of It

Where is each religion in China, and what does it look like from the street?

Start from the centre and move outward. Each faith has a region, a reason it is there, and a look a visitor can recognise from the street.

Han Buddhism — the central plains, the Yangtze south, and the four famous mountains. The ancestral halls cluster in Henan 河南 (Shaolin 少林寺, White Horse) and Zhejiang (Guoqing 国清寺 on Tiantai 天台山), where Indian Buddhism was translated into Chinese schools. The four pilgrimage mountains — Wutai 五台山, Emei 峨眉山, Putuo 普陀山, Jiuhua 九华山 — each belongs to a bodhisattva and remains an active monastic centre. A visitor sees timber halls, tiled roofs, grey or red walls, and monks in grey or brown robes.

Tibetan Buddhism — the plateau and its eastern rim. Lhasa 拉萨 is the heart, but the geography that matters for a visitor is the eastern rim: Kumbum 塔尔寺 in Qinghai 青海, Labrang 拉卜楞寺 in southern Gansu 甘肃, the monasteries around Kangding 康定 and Derge 德格 in western Sichuan 四川, and Songzanlin 松赞林寺 in Shangri-La 香格里拉, Yunnan 云南. This rim line is the page's most useful fact: Tibetan Buddhist culture is fully present there, and foreign visitors do not need the Tibet 西藏 Autonomous Region permit. The look is white walls, golden roofs, prayer wheels, and monks in maroon and yellow.

Theravada Buddhism — the south-western border. Xishuangbanna 西双版纳, Dehong 德宏 (Mangshi 芒市, Ruili 瑞丽), Lincang 临沧 and Pu'er 普洱 in Yunnan share a Buddhist tradition with Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. The temples have golden spires, the monks wear orange or saffron robes, and the Water-Splashing Festival 泼水节, 13 to 15 April in mid-April is the new year. A visitor could mistake the street for Chiang Mai or Mandalay.

Daoism — the mountains. Wudang 武当山 in Hubei 湖北, Qingcheng 青城山 in Sichuan, Longhu 龙虎山 in Jiangxi 江西 and Qiyun 齐云山 in Anhui are the four mountains held sacred by Daoists. Daoist temples also appear in cities as City God temples and Lüzu temples. The look is darker timber, black or grey tiles, and a layout that follows the landscape rather than imposing an axis. Daoism is the only organised faith native to China.

Islam — two lines and scattered inland points. The north-western line runs through Ningxia 宁夏 (Yinchuan 银川, Wuzhong 吴忠), Gansu (Lanzhou 兰州, Linxia 临夏) and Qinghai. The Xinjiang 新疆 line runs through Kashgar 喀什, Hotan 和田 and Turpan 吐鲁番. Inland, the Great Mosque 清真大寺 in Xi'an 西安, Niujie 牛街 in Beijing, Qingjing 清净寺 in Quanzhou 泉州 and Huaisheng 怀圣寺 in Guangzhou 广州 are historic points. The distinctive feature: Chinese-style mosques are courtyard complexes with a prayer hall, not domes and minarets — visible from the gate.

Catholicism and Protestant Christianity — the treaty ports and the north-east. Xujiahui 徐家汇 in Shanghai, the Sacred Heart 石室圣心大教堂 Cathedral in Guangzhou, Saint Sophia 圣索菲亚教堂 in Harbin 哈尔滨 and Macau's churches are the historic landmarks. In the countryside, Protestant churches cluster in parts of Zhejiang, particularly around Wenzhou 温州. The look is Gothic or Byzantine, usually brick or stone.

Folk religion — the coast and the villages. Mazu, the sea goddess, has her ancestral temple 祖庙 on Meizhou Island 湄洲岛 in Putian 莆田, and Tianhou temples up and down the coast. City God temples, Earth God shrines and Guan Yu 关羽 temples are in almost every old town. Incense is thickest here, official status is lowest. A visitor who follows the smoke will end up here more often than at any registered Buddhist or Daoist site.

03By the Numbers

How many believers, temples, mosques and churches does China have?

The table under this block carries the source and the year beside each figure. The prose says what the figures change for a visitor.

Nearly 200 million believers, 1.4 billion people. The 2018 white paper counts religious citizens at nearly 200 million. Against a population of roughly 1.4 billion, that means most Chinese people do not belong to any registered religion. This does not mean temples are empty: the incense at Buddhist and Daoist sites, and at folk religion shrines, is dense on festival days. The two facts sit side by side — registered affiliation is one thing, customary practice is another — and the page does not reconcile them. For a visitor, the practical consequence is that a temple can be crowded with people who are not "religious" in the organisational sense.

144,000 venues, unevenly distributed. The white paper counts approximately 144,000 registered religious activity sites: 33,500 Buddhist temples, 9,000 Daoist temples, 35,000 mosques, 6,000 Catholic sites and 60,000 Protestant sites. The ratio of Protestant to Catholic sites is ten to one. So when a visitor sees a cross in a Chinese village or small town, it is overwhelmingly likely to be a Protestant church, not a Catholic one. The 35,000 mosques mean that in any county town in the north-west, a halal meal is within walking distance — look for the green sign.

380,000 clergy, and the schools that train them. The white paper counts over 380,000 religious personnel. The number matters for a visitor because it determines whether a site is active or merely historic: a temple with resident monks has morning chanting, a meditation hall and a vegetarian kitchen; a temple without them is a museum with a roof. The white paper does not break down Buddhist temple numbers by school (Han, Tibetan, Theravada), so this page does not estimate them. Mazu belief was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2009, the first Chinese folk belief to make it; for a visitor, that means the rituals in Putian 莆田 and Quanzhou 泉州 are protected as living heritage, not tourist shows.

04What It Changes for Your Trip

Which Tibetan areas need a permit, and how should a visitor behave in a temple or mosque?

Plan by region, not by religion list. The most common mistake is to add "a temple" to an itinerary without noticing which school it belongs to and what rules apply. A Tibetan monastery, a Theravada temple and a Chinese mosque each require a different kind of preparation.

Booking. The single most useful rule for foreign visitors is the dividing line of the Tibet 西藏 permit. The Tibet Autonomous Region — Lhasa 拉萨, Shigatse 日喀则, the monasteries there — requires foreign visitors to travel on an organised permit with a guide, under rules that change. The same Tibetan Buddhist culture exists outside that line: Kumbum 塔尔寺 in Qinghai 青海, Labrang 拉卜楞寺 in Gansu 甘肃, the monasteries of western Sichuan 四川, Songzanlin 松赞林寺 in Yunnan 云南. These do not require the Tibet permit. Same prayer wheels, same butter 酥油 lamps, same maroon robes — one administrative level of difference. A few large monastic centres, notably the Buddhist academies at Seda 色达 and Yarchen 亚青寺, are reported to be restricted for foreign visitors; the restricted-sites table with this page lists the current status and the date it was checked. Some monasteries close or limit visitors during major religious festivals; the rule exists, the specific dates move, so check well in advance with the how-it-works page before booking.

Arriving. Each tradition has its own entry etiquette, and the cost of getting it wrong is embarrassment, not danger. At mosques, prayer times — especially Friday congregational prayer — usually mean no sightseeing; women may have a separate entrance or may not be admitted at all; shoes come off; shoulders and knees are covered. At Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, walk clockwise around halls and stupas, do not step on thresholds, do not point at statues with a finger, turn prayer wheels clockwise, and photography is usually forbidden or charged inside halls. At Han Buddhist temples, incense is bought at the entrance, the main hall is usually off-limits for photography, and you do not cut through a hall as a shortcut. At churches, Mass is always open to attend but silence is expected. Three general rules, from the old-towns page: do not stage photos, do not interrupt someone praying, and ask before photographing a person.

Walking through. Tickets split into two categories. Most registered religious activity sites charge nothing or a purely nominal fee; the same site, when also classified as a scenic area 景区, charges a scenic-area ticket. This is the same line as the museums page's 2008 ruling on free museum entry — a religious site and a scenic area can be the same physical place with two different pricing logics. Incense, donation boxes and the purchase of incense for offering are customary; this page describes what they are and how they work, and takes no position on whether a visitor should participate. Vegetarian meals are available at many Han Buddhist and some Daoist temples; the cuisine page covers what to expect. At high-altitude monasteries — above 3,000 metres, and several Tibetan sites are — the only advice this page gives is the altitude number and "ascend slowly"; medical treatment for altitude illness is available at nearby hospitals, and this page does not recommend any medication.

05Where You’ll Meet It

Where on PreeChina are the temples, the Muslim quarters and the festival dates?

This page is the map. The buildings and the streets are elsewhere.

The temples page is where the 22 specific temples live — Jokhang 大昭寺, Shaolin 少林寺, Labrang 拉卜楞寺, Kumbum 塔尔寺, the White Horse Temple 白马寺, the mosques in Xi'an 西安 and Kashgar 喀什. This page names them only as regional examples; the temples page tells you when each was founded and how to visit.

The old-towns page covers the living religious quarters: the Barkhor 八廓街 in Lhasa 拉萨, the Muslim Quarter 回民街 in Xi'an, the eight mosque districts of Linxia 临夏, Niujie 牛街 in Beijing. These are neighbourhoods, not buildings, and their religious character is in the street life as much as the architecture.

The museums page is where the religious objects go when they leave the temple: Buddhist sculpture, Daoist paintings, Islamic calligraphy. A museum visit is the fastest way to compare three schools of Buddhism in an afternoon.

The peoples page sets the access rules for the border regions. Tibet 西藏, Xinjiang 新疆 and the ethnic border areas are covered there; this page defers to its rulings on who can go where.

The calendar page has the festival dates — the Water-Splashing Festival 泼水节, 13 to 15 April, Mazu's birthday, the major Buddhist and Islamic observances. These determine when a religious site is at its most alive and most crowded.

The outdoors pages begin where the lowland temples end: the mountains held sacred by Buddhists and Daoists that are also hiking destinations, the plateau monasteries reachable by road. Several of the four Buddhist famous mountains and the Daoist mountains appear there as walkable routes.

The parks page covers the scenic-area framing that determines ticket pricing: when a religious site is inside a national park 国家公园 or a 5A scenic area 景区, the ticket and access rules come from the park side, not the temple side.

The how-it-works page has the current procedure for the Tibet permit and any restricted-site entry — the rules that move, and that this page deliberately does not pin to a date.

06What It’s Not

What do first-time visitors get wrong about religion in China?

• Not an atheist country in one sentence. The state is secular, but the landscape is full of temples, mosques, churches and folk shrines, and the incense is real. "Atheist" describes the government's position, not the street.
• Not only Buddhism. Five religions are officially recognised, and Daoism, Islam and Christianity are all visible to a visitor. The most mountain-top temples are Daoist; the most distinctive courtyard architecture is Islamic; the most rural crosses are Protestant.
• Not "Chinese Buddhism = Japanese Zen 禅." Zen is one school of Han Buddhism, and a Japanese development at that. China has Han, Tibetan and Theravada schools, and within Han Buddhism there are a dozen traditions. A visitor expecting Zen everywhere will be confused by the chanting, the statues and the layout.
• Not all temples charge admission. Registered religious sites are usually free or nominal; the ticket appears when the site is also a scenic area 景区. A temple inside a 5A park and the same temple as a religious venue can have two price logics.
• Not all Tibetan areas require a permit. The Tibet 西藏 Autonomous Region does. Qinghai 青海, southern Gansu 甘肃, western Sichuan 四川 and the Tibetan parts of Yunnan 云南 do not, for the most part. The permit line is administrative, not cultural.
• Not every mosque has a dome. Chinese-style mosques are courtyard complexes with a prayer hall, tiled roofs and wooden gates — they look like Buddhist temples from outside until you see the prayer direction and the ablution area. The dome-and-minaret style is a later import, common in Xinjiang 新疆 but not universal.
• Not Confucianism as a religion, but Confucius 孔子 temples as temples. The debate over whether Confucianism counts as a religion is long-running and unresolved. This page takes no side. For a visitor, Qufu 曲阜 functions as a pilgrimage site regardless of classification.
• Not only elderly people burning incense. Temple visitors span all ages, and young people at a Buddhist hall or a Mazu procession are there for the same reasons as their grandparents — customary practice, family obligation, a wish, a visit. Age is not a reliable predictor of who is inside.