Why are most people in China still atheist, although the government has legalized religion and social reform. They tend to revive atheism instead and making it worse.

I’m going to assume you’ve never been to China. If that’s not the case, excuse me… but then if you knew China at all I don’t think you’d ask this question. I am not Chinese and I don’t speak Chinese (much to my dismay) but I do spend a heck of a lot of time there, relatively speaking, and perhaps I have some small insight on this. I’ll also say from the start that I am an atheist.First… making it worse? I think you don’t understand China, you don’t understand atheism and I’m willing to bet you don’t much understand the concept of religion, outside of your own, which I’m going to take a wild stab at and assume you’re Christian.First, not all religions are like the Abrahamic religions. Eastern religions are much more flexible, and Chinese traditional “religions” are in many ways more like philosophies than what your concept of religion probably is. China traditionally had two “religious” currents, Taoism and Confucianism. I’m not going to get into a long discussion about these, but neither is really predicated on “god” per se, certainly not on a creator god. Both go a long way to give ideas about how to live your life, the meaning of duty, etc. but both are traced to a normal, non-divine human being (Lao Tse in the first case and Confucius in the the second). Both are considerably older than Christianity, by the way. In the first century BCE, Buddhism was brought to China and it became the third major religion. It too is traced to a non-divine human being (Siddhārtha Gautama), and in many of its forms it too does not really have a “god” in the way you would think of one.These three religions were no more contradictory in the minds of the Chinese over the millennia than three different philosophies might be and most people kind of mingle them (certainly the first two). Indeed, once again, they are more philosophies than religions in many respects. You don’t go to church, you don’t even really pray (although Taoism and Buddhism are big on meditation), there typically is no concept of a creator god, and none of them are really big on proselytising. You are aware, I’m sure, of buddhist (and Taoist) monasteries, but these are largely devoted to meditation, which is a personal thing. Now, I’d point out that in the absence of any kind of priestly hierarchy, there are many different sects and currents of these, and some are vaguely more similar to the Abrahamic religions, but typically not.

The idea of an exclusive, creator-centered religion in which someone has a line to god, tells you what’s right and what’s wrong, etc. is foreign to Chinese culture (and to many far-eastern cultures… and I’m leaving Hinduism out of this). It is also the case in Japan, for example. As such, for many Chinese through the ages, you probably would have always considered them atheists because while they had “religions” of sorts, they didn’t really have a god.

For my part, I kind of bemoan the lack of “religion” too in China, even though I’m an atheist. Why? Because Taoism as a philosophy I find extremely appealing, and to a lesser extent, Confucianism. Many of the Chinese I deal with seem extremely commercial to me, very focused on the day-to-day and out of touch with the broader, philosophical questions that underlie their traditional philosophies. I think that some more attention to Taoist teachings would do many Chinese well. However - and this is a big however - most Taoists would still be atheists by your book.

Therefore, the state of affairs that you bemoan is just China. Your idea of “making it better”, and asking religious people to develop religion in China would probably consist of trying to proselytise an entirely foreign concept into a 5000 year old culture, introducing what I consider to be superstition to a people with a rich “spiritual” history of their own that never needed a vengeful god. There are 1.4 billion people there, some would buy your story, but I am sure you would fail dismally on the whole and I am very glad of that.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kevin Dolgin in his own words: I am a serial entrepreneur (I have created companies in the United States, France, Great Britain and soon in China), an associate professor at the Sorbonne, an active musician and a writer (feel free to check me out on Amazon). I am originally from New York but I have lived in Paris for 30 years and am a dual citizen. I am also an avid student of history and of human behavior.

Appendix

A Jesuit—Chinese world map, produced in the 16th century. Note the amazing accuracy of the map in regard to Europe, Africa and Asia, with the Americas a bit less accurate, although they were aware that the new gigantic continent comprised two hemispheres.. (Click on image for best appreciation.)

A note on the Jesuit China Missions
The following material is excerpted from Wikipedia.
The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China and the West, and influenced Christian culture in Chinese society today.

Rubens homage to Jesuit civilizational work.

The first attempt by the Jesuits to reach China was made in 1552 by St. Francis Xavier, Navarrese priest and missionary and founding member of the Society of Jesus. Xavier never reached the mainland, dying after only a year on the Chinese island of Shangchuan. Three decades later, in 1582, Jesuits once again initiated mission work in China, led by several figures including the Italian Matteo Ricci, introducing Western science, mathematics, astronomy, and visual arts to the Chinese imperial court, and carrying on significant inter-cultural and philosophical dialogue with Chinese scholars, particularly with representatives of Confucianism. At the time of their peak influence, members of the Jesuit delegation were considered some of the emperor's most valued and trusted advisors, holding prestigious posts in the imperial government.^{[citation needed]} Many Chinese, including former Confucian scholars, adopted Christianity and became priests and members of the Society of Jesus.

According to research by David E. Mungello, from 1552 (i.e., the death of St. Francis Xavier) to 1800, a total of 920 Jesuits participated in the China mission, of whom 314 were Portuguese, and 130 were French.^[2] In 1844 China may have had 240,000 Roman Catholics, but this number grew rapidly, and in 1901 the figure reached 720,490.^[3] Many Jesuit priests, both Western-born and Chinese, are buried in the cemetery located in what is now the School of the Beijing Municipal Committee.^[4]

Contacts between Europe and the West already dated back hundreds of years, especially between the Papacy and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. Numerous traders – most famously Marco Polo – had traveled between eastern and western Eurasia. Christianity was not new to the Mongols, as many had practiced Christianity of the Church of the East since the 7th century (see Christianity among the Mongols). However, the overthrow of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty by the Ming in 1368 resulted in a strong assimilatory pressure on China's Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities, and outside influences were forced out of China. By the 16th century, there is no reliable information about any practicing Christians remaining in China.

Fairly soon after the establishment of the direct European maritime contact with China (1513) and the creation of the Society of Jesus (1540), at least some Chinese became involved with the Jesuit effort. As early as 1546, two Chinese boys enrolled in the Jesuits' St. Paul's College in Goa, the capital of Portuguese India. One of these two Christian Chinese, known as Antonio, accompanied St. Francis Xavier, a co-founder of the Society of Jesus, when he decided to start missionary work in China. However, Xavier failed to find a way to enter the Chinese mainland, and died in 1552 on Shangchuan island off the coast of Guangdong,^[5] the only place in China where Europeans were allowed to stay at the time, but only for seasonal trade.

A few years after Xavier's death, the Portuguese were allowed to establish Macau, a semi-permanent settlement on the mainland which was about 100 km closer to the Pearl River Delta than Shangchuan Island. A number of Jesuits visited the place (as well as the main Chinese port in the region, Guangzhou) on occasion, and in 1563 the Order permanently established its settlement in the small Portuguese colony. However, the early Macau Jesuits did not learn Chinese, and their missionary work could reach only the very small number of Chinese people in Macau who spoke Portuguese.^[6]

A new regional manager ("Visitor") of the order, Alessandro Valignano, on his visit to Macau in 1578–1579 realized that Jesuits weren't going to get far in China without a sound grounding in the language and culture of the country. He founded St. Paul Jesuit College (Macau) and requested the Order's superiors in Goa to send a suitably talented person to Macau to start the study of Chinese. Accordingly, in 1579 the Italian Michele Ruggieri (1543–1607) was sent to Macau, and in 1582 he was joined at his task by another Italian, Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).^[6]

Ricci's policy of accommodation

Both Ricci and Ruggieri were determined to adapt to the religious qualities of the Chinese:  Ruggieri to the common people, in whom Buddhist and Taoist elements predominated, and Ricci to the educated classes, where Confucianism  prevailed. Ricci, who arrived at the age of 30 and spent the rest of his life in China, wrote to the Jesuit houses in Europe and called for priests – men who would not only be "good", but also "men of talent, since we are dealing here with a people both intelligent and learned."^[7] The Spaniard Diego de Pantoja and the Italian Sabatino de Ursis were some of these talented men who joined Ricci in his venture.

Just as Ricci spent his life in China, others of his followers did the same. This level of commitment was necessitated by logistical reasons: Travel from Europe to China took many months, and sometimes years; and learning the country's language and culture was even more time-consuming. When a Jesuit from China did travel back to Europe, he typically did it as a representative ("procurator") of the China Mission, entrusted with the task of recruiting more Jesuit priests to come to China, ensuring continued support for the Mission from the Church's central authorities, and creating favorable publicity for the Mission and its policies by publishing both scholarly and popular literature about China and Jesuits.^[8] One time the Chongzhen Emperor was nearly converted to Christianity and broke his idols.^[9]