Language and religions in China

China is a country of diversity, a variety of languages, and freedom of religious belief. There are various languages and religions in China. Written language in China has only one form and they have many characters. Only people who are highly educated can understand 6000–8000 characters while common people can know up to 2000 characters. 

Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Confucianism have all practiced religions in China. Religious freedom is guaranteed under the PRC Constitution. The State Council has a dedicated body in charge of providing aid to all confessional groups in China. 

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Some major Religions in China 

Some major religions in China are:  

Confucianism: In Chinese, Confucianism is known as Rjiào, which means "teaching of scholars," or Kngjiào, which means "teaching of Confucius." It is a teaching as well as a collection of ceremonial activities. According to Yong Chen, the definition of Confucianism is "arguably one of the most contentious questions in both Confucian research and the discipline of religious studies." 

Taoism: One of the most famous religions is Taoism. It was founded by Lao Tzu some seventeen hundred years ago and it speaks of values that are based on humility, compassion, and frugality. 

Buddhism: Buddhism was brought to China by Indian monks about 2000 years ago. It has a heavy influence on Chinese religion and culture.  

Islam: Over the years Chinese Muslims have also grown at a fast pace though it was introduced thirteen hundred years ago. Now there are Islamic communities who abstain from eating meat and do their fastings or Rojas.  

Christianity: There are traces of Christianity with a whopping number of 3.3 million Catholics and Protestants nearly 5 million in Chinese communities. There are Cathedrals namely St. John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong, St. Sophia Orthodox Church in Harbin, and St. Ignatius Cathedral in the famous Chinese cities of Shanghai.  

China has multiculturalism and with more Chinese followers it no longer remains an orthodox nation in terms of religion and culture. Some major celebrations in China are on New Year’s Day on the first of January, January 28 Again Chinese New Year and a national holiday, the golden week of the Spring festival, the Qing Me Jie holiday, the labor day public holiday, and the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn festivals. 

Languages in China | Cantonese, Min Dialect, Gan Dialect, Mandarin, Wu Dialect

The commonly spoken languages in China are:  

Wu Dialect: The Wu dialects are a large set of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken mostly in Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, and the section of Jiangsu Province south of the Yangtze River that comprises the Wu cultural zone. 

Mandarin: Mandarin is also a set of Sino-Tibetan languages and dialects spoken natively over most of northern and southern China. The category contains the Beijing dialect, which serves as the foundation for the phonology of Standard Chinese, China's official language. 

Gan Dialect: Gan is a collection of Sinitic languages spoken by numerous people in China's Jiangxi province, as well as large populations in neighboring areas such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian. Gan is a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family's Sinitic languages, and Hakka is the phonetically closest Chinese variant to Gan. 

Min Dialect: In addition to the descendants of Min-speaking immigrants on the Leizhou peninsula and Hainan, assimilation locals of Chaoshan, portions of Zhongshan, three counties in southern Wenzhou, the Zhoushan archipelago, and Taiwan speak a large collection of Sinitic dialects collectively referred to as Min. 

Cantonese: Cantonese is commonly spoken in Guangdong, Hongkong, Macau, and Singapore. 
 

Foreign Languages Spoken in China 

English is one of the most important foreign languages in China, with over 10 million speakers spread across the country. The bulk of English speakers is concentrated in the country's metropolitan areas.  

Both printing and digital media in Hong Kong utilize English as its official language. English is widely employed as a global language in China during foreign interactions.  

Portuguese is another important international language in China, and it is the official language of Macau. 
 

Sign Language in China 

Sign Language in China is used by the deaf community in mainland China and Taiwan and is spoken by a sizable proportion of China's estimated 20 million deaf individuals.  

Tibetan Sign Language is utilized by Tibet's deaf population, primarily in the Lhasa region. Tibetan Sign Language is a standardized language developed between 2001 and 2004.  

In the past, the use of sign language in China was discouraged, and in some cases outright prohibited, since it was thought to impair a child's aural ability.