History of religion in China

Forms of religion in China throughout history have included animism during the Xia dynasty, which evolved into the state religion of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Alongside an ever-present undercurrent of Chinese folk religion, highly literary, systematized currents related to Taoism and Confucianism emerged during the Spring and Autumn period. Buddhism began to influence China during the Han dynasty, and Christianity and Islam appeared during the Tang.

Today, the government of the People's Republic of China is officially atheist. The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party manages the official religious bodies of the five recognized religions in the country: Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam.

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