ABSTRACT
China has more than 4,000 years of written history that embraces diverse religious traditions. However, since the Communist Party of China (C.P.C.) began to govern China in 1949, the Chinese people of all nationalities have been under the leadership of the C.P.C. and the guidance of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong’s thought. Essentially, China is an atheist country. Although the Chinese people had rights to practice religions by the law, formal religious education was banned under the Mao regime. In the post-Mao era, the government has implemented a liberal policy toward religions. As a result, religious education in China is now in revival but the development of religious education has been very slow. Owing to the fact that there is no existing literature seriously addressing religious education in China, and because the Chinese government does not provide statistics on this subject, it is difficult to offer a detailed report on religious education in China.
