What religion are the Chinese?

Some info here.

Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%
note: officially atheist (2002 est.)

edit – I should add why that looks funky compared to other countries is that is is so closed off. Take a look at North Korea.

They are Buddhists

Buddhist

Budhism, according to Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China

Nowadays Shenism-Taoism and Buddhism are the largest religions in China with respectively 20–30% (of which 160 millions, or 11% of the total population of the country, are Mazuists) and 18–20% of the population adhering to them, thriving throughout the country as the government is allowing them to spread. Roughly 4% of the population is composed of non-Han ethnicities following their traditional tribal religions. Christians are 3–4% of the population according to various detailed surveys, despite American Christian press claims there might be more; Muslims are 1–2%. The remaining section of the population, ranging between 40% and 60%, is mostly agnostic or non-religious; purely atheists are 14–15%. Various new religious movements, both indigenous and exogenous, are scattered crosswise the country.

Do Buddhists consider Buddhism a religion?

I’ve seen mostly buddhist and taoist shrines in my time here.

I traveled through Taiwan last year and while many are Buddhist I did come across a Catholic church in downtown Taipei city.

I read something about the percentages that ring true along the lines of what @LostInParadise says.

All I know is that the temples were extroadinary and because I lean towards the eastern philosophies I was in heaven. ;-)

The secluded mountain, cliff dwelling temples outside of Hualien in the mountains near Toroko gorge were amazing beyond words!

@bkcunningham In China they do – China is largely responsible for turning it into a religion and not just a philosophy. China created Zen Buddhism.

What I find interesting about China is that it developed a civilization quite independently of the West. Its roots aren’t found in Rome or Ancient Greece or the Middle East but in itself. China is different and religion as we know it never developed there. The Chinese equivalents are Confucianism and Taoism, the former teaching how to live in society and the latter dealing with man’s relationship with the Universe. The two were by no means mutually exclusive. Buddhism came to China from India and Christianity and Islam from the West. Confucianism and Taoism are very adaptable philosophies and I am sure their influence pervades modern China.

they are buddhists all of them,not all of them some of them are muslims but lots of them,i mean their main religion is buddhism

Having lived and worked in China for a while I found many people in China flock to the churches in hopes of finding something to fill the spiritual void that has resulted as capitalistic aspirations gradually displace Communist ideology. Every year, millions of copies of the Bible are printed and distributed in China, and people seem to be reading it the way they did Mao’s little red book.
Even now I am back in the UK, I find it easy to talk to the Chinese people about religion. They are a very inquisitive people and will ask questions, some of which can be very pertinent. However, religion is still banned in China and even though you will find churches they come under the auspices of the government and preach what the government tells them. Those that try to teach the Bible truth have to go “underground”. When I was there it was against the law to carry a Bible in the street and for a Chinese person it meant prison and a foreigner could be expelled from the country.

I’m sorry, I just think this is an ignorant question. Before you yell at me, let me attempt to lend some perspective. What religion are the Americans?

Among those who believe in a religion, overwhelmingly Christian

@LostInParadise I think you missed the point.

@kitszu: perhaps it would be more sympathetic to read the question as “what are the dominant religious belief systems in China?”

That would allow for a more interesting discussion and still answer the OP’s question.

@the100thmonkey It may have been more generous to read the question that way. That may even have been the questions intention. However, that is not the question conveyed by the words used. Your version of the question might lead to a more interesting discussion that would still answer the OP’s question, their’s does not.

I think you are splitting hairs. I agree that the question could have been phrased better, but everyone else on this thread was able to interpret the question as it was intended, and I suspect that you also know what was meant.

@kitszu Let me introduce you to a basic rule of intelligent discourse: the principle of charity.