General Information » Culture & Lifestyle » Religion

No single religion dominates in Shanghai. Representing the three traditional beliefs in China, Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian temples dot the city throughout. The activities of many of Shanghai’s places of worship can sometimes appear motivated by material gain. Tourist shops abound in the areas surrounding both the Jing’an Temple and the Temple of the Town God, the latter housing a tellingly popular shrine to the god of commerce. Although genuinely faithful communities do exist, when asked about their belief in God, most young locals will answer with ‘no, I believe in myself.’ Though many may blame the Chinese government and their religion suppressing Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s, the 1980s brought a new era of religious semi-tolerance with Deng Xiaoping’s open door policies. Practitioners are free to worship, as long as their places of worship are officially registered with the government’s department for religious affairs and not deemed to be threatening the stability of society. The best example of this rule is the denial of the ‘Falun Gong,’ a group the government considers to be a dangerous, heretical cult.

The Catholic community in particular has a growing presence in Shanghai and boasts several impressive churches. Split between the ‘official,’ state-run church and the Vatican-aligned ‘clandestine’ church, the two forms of Catholicism in China are slowly shrinking the gap with Pope Benedict XVI quietly agreeing to recognise some bishops ordained by the CCPA (Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association). Christmas is actively celebrated in Shanghai but, for most locals, it is simply an excuse to hang up decorations and exchange presents.

The Jewish community has a complex and important history in Shanghai, with the Sephardic, Russian and European Jews migrating into the city in three separate waves during the early 1900s, 1920s and 1940/50s respectively. The Sephardic Jews from Baghdad and Bombay were particularly significant in the development of Shanghai, forming powerful business empires that built many landmark buildings still seen today; they also housed subsequent Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Russia and Europe. The current Jewish population has dwindled to approximately 250 but remains close-knit, with dedicated schools and synagogues.

Islam was first introduced into China in the 6th Century AD and current statistics suggest that there are nearly 20 million Chinese Muslims. This demographic is spread across ten different ethnic minorities: most notably, the Hui and Uighur, both of which practice diluted forms of Islam. The Turkic Uighurs, livi...

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