China, a land of beauty and fascination, tempts adventurous travelers all over the world. She is a massive country, covering 6,000,000 square miles and spanning 60 longitudinal degrees. She has such an infinite variety of people, enchanting natural landscape, brilliant history, a culture that is among the most ancient in the world and fascinating destinations that a visitor can be almost as bewildered as he is bewitched.

Full Country Name: The People's Republic of China

Area: 9,600,000 sq km
Population: 1.3 billion
Capital City: Beijing (pop 12 million)

People: Han Chinese (93%), plus Mongolian, Zhuang, Manchu and Uighur ethnic groups

Language: Putonghua (Beijing dialect mandarin)
Religion: Officially atheist; Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism (no stats available); Muslim (14 million), Christian (7 million)
 

Government: The National People's Congress
Head of State: Hu Jintao

China has a vast land and a large population, thus a variety of religions grew and matured in this old nation. There are now mainly five religions, including Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and other Christian religions. Confucianism, a philosophy rather than a religion, surprisingly ruled China for 2,000 years. There are still other primitive religions and beliefs followed by some ethnic groups.

Buddhism spread into China during the Han dynasty, and played an important role in Chinese history and culture.

The golden statue of Sakyamuni in the Yonghe Lamasery, BeijingTaoism was founded in China during the Han dynasty. The Chinese philosopher, Lu Xun once said: "China roots deep in Taoism. If one wants to comprehend Chinese history and culture, one must comprehend Taoism first."

Islam arose in China's coastal cities in the Tang dynasty (618 - 907 AD) and gradually spread to many other areas. Arab traders who landed on the southern coast of China established their mosques in great maritime cities like Guangzhou and Quanzhou. Islam is also an important religion in China, since the religion of Allah converted many ethnic group groups like Uygur, Hui and Kazak, etc.

The everlasting prayer wheels in a Tibetan Buddhist monasteryCatholicism was widely embraced in China in the year 635 during the Tang dynasty (618 - 907), but the enthusiasm soon waned. A historical record of the event was made on a stone stele which is now display in Xian. Later in the Yuan dynasty (1271 - 1368) the religion attempted a comeback for a short period. In the tenth year of Wanli reign (1582) in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644), the Italian priest Matteo Ricci, was permitted to set up churches. After the opium war, catholic developed rapidly in China.
Christianity not of a Catholic or eastern church (i.e. Presbyterian, Lutheran) was introduced to China during the 1930s, when there was a large influx of missionaries.