Abstract
Is it possible to quantify and situate the religions of China within China? Within the Chinese religious complex (Sanjiao), is it possible to distinguish between Taoists, Confucianists and Buddhists? Various responses are given outside China, notably different from those given within the country. What is the relative importance of Christianity when compared to, say, Judaism or to the numbers of non-believers? Official estimates of the numbers of ethnic minorities within the total population give clues to the size of the sphere of influence engendered by Islam, Shamanism, Lamaism, Hinayana Buddhism, Animism - all those religions whose coexistence within the same country conjures up a picture of a diverse China, whose “margins” comprise the greater amount of territory inhabited by lower numbers of people than the central Sanjiao (Han heartland) realm it encircles.