China
China is a large country in northern Asia surrounded by Russia, Mongolia, Tibet, Burma and Vietnam on the land side and the sea on the other. According to tradition, Buddhism was brought to China by two Indian monks during the Han Dynasty, perhaps in about 50 CE. After several centuries of gradual growth Buddhism began to attract the educated class and eventually became the state religion. The high point of Buddhism in China was during the Tang Dynasty, after which it was persecuted and went into a long period of decline, punctuated by occasional periods of renewal. Buddhism was again persecuted during the Republican period and even more severely after 1949 by the communists who closed all temples and either killed monks and nuns or forced them to disrobe. Today Chinese Buddhism is slowly beginning to re-establish itself and adapt to a rapidly changing society. Many Chinese living outside China – in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the West, continue to practise Buddhism, although significant numbers have become secular or converted to Christianity. See Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna.
Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey, K. Ch’en, 1972.
