Far East Culture

China
The People's Republic of China is the world's argest country by population and is the third largest country by area. China`s recent rapid development has made it a major force in world affairs.

POPULATION

Population: 1.3 billion
Density: 138 per sq km
92% ethnic Han Chinese
55 ethnic minorities (according to the government)
Most of the population live in the east—the historical heartland of China—so density is greater than statistics suggest. Population growth has been controlled by the government promoting late marriages and inducing parents to have only one child. Abortion is legal. Shanghai has a population of 13.5 million and Beijing, the capital, 14.5 million. China is 60 percent rural with an increasing migration of workers to urban areas.

RELIGIONS

Non-religious 49.58%
Chinese religions 28.5%
Buddhist 8.38%
Christian 7.25%
Traditional ethnic 4.29%
Muslim 2%

The Communist party in the 1960s attempted to eliminate organized religion. Previously the dominant religions in China had been Confucianism [more a moral philosophy than a religion], Daoism and Buddhism. Muslim minority peoples such as the Uyghurs, Kazaks and Kirgiz number 20 million and now practice their religion openly. It is illegal to spread the gospel to anyone under 18. resource from OMF