ABSTRACT
The constitution of The People’s Republic of China has institutionalized a separation between religion and education, and the government has played a predominant role in controlling schooling under the socialist regime. Against this background, the purpose of this chapter is to explore how China’s religious traditions influence educational practice. The chapter is composed of four main sections. We first discuss what “religious education” means in the Chinese context and the educational and societal challenges in teaching about religion. Then we adopt a citizenship perspective to analyse the tension between religion and modern nation-states in education and the reasons why religion increasingly matters for Chinese education and society. We conclude the chapter with some thoughts about the implications for current educational policies and practices.
