Chinese Religious Belief 1- Buddhism Christmas is on its way and as we all know, Christmas stems from religious belief, that is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. In China, we have various religious believes but none of them are listed as national holiday. 1. Buddhism(佛教) No doubt that Buddhism is still the most popular religious belief in China. Originated from India, Buddhism was introduced to China two thousand years ago in Han Dynasty(汉朝) and flourished since then. In many dynasties, even the emperor himself was devout Buddhist. For example in Nanbei Dynasty(南北朝) , Emperor Liangwu (梁武帝)deserted his power and family, escaped from his palace for four times to try to be a monk, each time ending up to be persuaded back by his loyal ministers. Massive temples were established at that time, about 10-22% population are monks/non, which severely jeopardized the labor force of the nation. So Nanbei Dynasty only exists less than 200 years then records in the history book forever. Buddhism enters its golden age in Tang Dynasty. In Emperor Taizong(唐太宗)’s reign period, Monk Xuanzang(玄奘), the most reputable monk in Chinese history, made his long journey to the West (India, Pakistan,etc.) to study the latest Buddhism and brought back 657 Buddhism classics. This event is also the prototype of Chinese literary classic “Journey to the West”(Monkey King). Emperor Taizong warmly welcomed him when he came back. Then Monk Xuanzang spent his rest life-time translating those relics into Chinese, which helped to strengthen the foundation of Buddhism in China. Buddhism was really popular at that time, Emperor Gaozong(高宗) hosted grand ceremony to welcome Buddhist Relics into his palace and prayed for several days. Emperor Wuzetian(武则天), the only female emperor in Chinese history, supported the development of Buddhism by sponsoring Buddhism classics translation and Buddha figure sculpture. But in Emperor Wuzong(唐武宗) period, Tang Dynasty. Buddhism encountered its most severe Waterloo. Emperor Wuzong realized that his nation’s financial shortage was related with large monk population and he had dropping labor force due to the impact of Buddhism, so he decided to enforce monks to resume secular life and demolished many temples. This event is called as Disaster HuiChang(会昌法难) by the Buddhists. Nowadays, we still have many Buddhists. On the first day of Chinese New Year, many Chinese will go to the temple to pray for the good luck in the New Year.