CHINA HAS THREE TIMES AS MANY BUDDHISTS AS COMMUNISTS

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, is supportive of Buddhism and has greatly eased previous religious restrictions on Buddhism in China.  The result is that there are now almost three times as many Buddhists in China as there are Party members. An official communiqué released earlier this year estimated the membership of the Communist Party of China at just under 90 million.

Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs estimates there are some 250 million Buddhists in China and 200,000 registered Buddhist monks.

One of the individuals I consider an important Buddhist teacher is Hsing Yun who has played a significant role in liberalizing Chinese rules about Buddhism.     In 1989,  he was allowed to return to mainland China from his base in Taiwan. In China, authorities invited him to express his views on Chinese religious policy.  Speaking candidly, he "urged that museum and forestry personnel b removed from monasteries, and Buddhist places of worship and relics damaged during the Cultural Revolution be returned and repaired." 

Much of this has happened since his meeting with officials and since Xi Jinping became President.  In fact, there is a major revival of interest in Buddhism in China today.