It is true that the Chinese are not so religious as the Hindus, or even as the Japanese; and they are certainly not so religious as the Christian missionaries desire them to be.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Chinese culture in general is not very religious. Confucianism is more a code of ethics than a religion, and ancestor worship is a way for parents to control you even after they're dead.
The Chinese people, too, went through all kinds of vicissitudes in their religious development.
In the schools of the Western countries, there is always the subject 'Religion.' The Classics are China's religion.
Practically all the prominent leaders of thought in China today are openly agnostics and even atheists.
The Chinese culture belongs not only to the Chinese but also to the whole world.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized 120 saints of China, 87 of whom were ethnically Chinese. My home church was incredibly excited because this was the first time the Roman Catholic Church acknowledged Chinese citizens in this way.
I think because of their terrible past, particularly this century, the Chinese have come to accept cruelty more than many other people, which is something I feel very unhappy about.
I was born and raised in China, and my parents were missionaries.
But I wish to point out that it is entirely wrong to say that the Chinese are not religious.
No student of Chinese history can say that the Chinese are incapable of religious experience, even when judged by the standards of medieval Europe or pious India.