Study finds 400 million Chinese practice a religion

SHANGHAI, China — Citizens of the People’s Republic of China are perhaps four times more religious than the government previously thought, according to a new survey conducted by East China Normal University in Shanghai, China. About 400 million people — more than 30 percent of the country’s population — practice a religion. Official estimates previously had placed the number of religious followers at around 100 million.

Social crisis and a growing gap between rich and poor are causing more people to turn to religion, Liu Zhongyu, the author of the survey, told The New York Times.

China officially recognizes five religions — Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam — and has restored or built new worship facilities for those groups. But the government selects senior clergy for each of them and persecutes people who follow unauthorized groups like underground Protestant house churches.