“China is a country without religion and the Chinese are a people who are not bound by religious superstitions.” -- Hu Shih (1891-1962, philosopher)
 

“There was not one corner in the vast land of China where one did not find temples, shrines, altars, and other places of worship. . . [which] were a visible indication of the strong and pervasive influence of religion in Chinese society.” -- C. K. Yang (1910-1995, sociologist) 

Is China the least religious society in the world? Whereas armchair philosophers like to believe so, scholars in the field find abundance of religion in China. Until recently, however, few social scientists, both inside and outside China, have focused on religion in Chinese society.  We strive to advance the social scientific study of religion in China. With grants from the Henry Luce Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, and other sources, we have been organizing Summer Institutes, Symposia, Lectures, and Research Projects. We also offer research grants and fellowships to Chinese scholars for conducting empirical research on religion in China. These programs are intended to foster a new generation of Chinese scholars of religious research equipped with social scientific methods and theories, and to produce scholarly publications about religions in contemporary China.