ABSTRACT
Religion, which many people believed had become irrelevant in a Communist society, has emerged as a signifi cant social issue and a challenge for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the government since the beginning of the reform period. China has been criticised regularly by international human rights activists for its attitude to religious freedom in theory and in practice. While some religions are practised irrespective of ethnic affi liations, others, notably Islam and Tibetan Buddhism, are closely tied to specifi c ethnic groups and are an integral part of their national and cultural identities.
