Is China Really an Atheistic Country?

[MineralMan]

It is, but only if you only are referring to the major world religions, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Officially, the Communist Party is atheistic, but the Chinese people are not necessarily without religious beliefs. Chinese folk religions are still part of everyday life for most Chinese. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it, with references:

Because many, perhaps most, Han Chinese do not consider their spiritual beliefs and practices to be a "religion" and in any case do not feel that they must practise any one of them exclusively, it is difficult to gather clear and reliable statistics. According to scholarly opinion, "the great majority of China's population of 1.4+ billion" takes part in Chinese cosmological religion, its rituals and festivals of the lunar calendar, without belonging to any institutional teaching.[9] National surveys conducted in the early 21st century estimated that some 80% of the population of China, which is more than a billion people, practice some kind of Chinese folk religion or Taoism; 10–16% are Buddhists; 2.53% are Christians; and 0.4% are Muslims. Folk religious movements of salvation constitute 2–3% to 13% of the population, while many in the intellectual class adhere to Confucianism as a religious identity. In addition, ethnic minority groups practise distinctive religions, including Tibetan Buddhism, and Islam among the Hui and Uyghur peoples.

Now, Chinese folk religions are not really theistic religions. From the same source: "Basically, Chinese religion involves allegiance to the shen, often translated as "spirits", defining a variety of gods and immortals. These may be deities of the natural environment or ancestral principles of human groups, concepts of civility, culture heroes, many of whom feature in Chinese mythology and history."

Theistic religions developed later in human history, it seems. Since China has had a continuous civilization for thousands of years, and since it has historically been relatively isolated from western cultures, it's folk religion developed without the influence of monotheistic western cultures.

From this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_culture#Religion

A large part of Chinese culture is based on the notion that a spiritual world exists. Countless methods of divination have helped answer questions, even serving as an alternative to medicine. Folklores have helped fill the gap between things that cannot be explained. There is often a blurred line between myth, religion and unexplained phenomenon. Many of the stories have since evolved into traditional Chinese holidays. Other concepts have extended to the outside of mythology into spiritual symbols such as Door god and the Imperial guardian lions. Along with the belief of the holy, there is also the evil. Practices such as Taoist exorcism fighting mogwai and jiangshi with peachwood swords are just some of the concepts passed down from generations. A few Chinese fortune telling rituals are still in use today after thousands of years of refinement.

Also from the link above:

Taoism is a religious or philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (道, literally "Way", also romanized as Dao). The Tao is a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it denotes the principle that is the source, pattern and substance of everything that exists.[23][24] Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasizing rigid rituals and social order.[23] Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize wu wei (effortless action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: 慈 "compassion", 儉/俭 "frugality", and 谦 "humility". The roots of Taoism go back at least to the 4th century BCE. Early Taoism drew its cosmological notions from the School of Yinyang (Naturalists), and was deeply influenced by one of the oldest texts of Chinese culture, the Yijing, which expounds a philosophical system about how to keep human behavior in accordance with the alternating cycles of nature. The "Legalist" Shen Buhai may also have been a major influence, expounding a realpolitik of wu wei.[25] The Tao Te Ching, a compact book containing teachings attributed to Laozi (Chinese: 老子; pinyin: Lǎozǐ; Wade–Giles: Lao Tzu), is widely considered the keystone work of the Taoist tradition, together with the later writings of Zhuangzi.

Those traditions, which many in the west do not really classify as religion, persist in Chinese culture today. All are part of Chinese traditional religion and philosophy, which continues to affect the 80% of the population referred to above. Not theistic religion, but neither is Buddhism. Religion, nonetheless.

For more information, you can visit this article. It is very long, heavily footnoted, and includes links to many more resources. Clearly, China does not suppress its traditional religious beliefs in any real way. It does, however, put restrictions on other religions, particularly theistic western religions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_China