As part of its Richer World series, the BBC recently ran exclusive footage of a former senior Chinese Communist Party official meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2012, two years after the last formal talks between the two sides, and praying at a personal shrine he had constructed in his Beijing apartment, complete with the Dalai Lama’s picture in pride of place.
In his write-up, BBC reporter John Sudworth claims “the idea that an official would invite the BBC to witness him praying in front of a portrait of the Dalai Lama would seem a preposterous one. Laughable — insane even.” For publishing what is undeniably an interesting story, the BBC should be commended, but for suggesting that any display of religious feeling or sensitivity on the part of the Chinese government is itself akin to a religious miracle, the BBC does a disservice to all those who would seek to truly understand modern China.
The truth is that, despite its media portrayals as a spiritual and cultural wasteland, China is home to more than 200 million people who are either “Buddhists, Taoists or worshippers of legendary figures such as the Dragon King and God of Fortune.” China also has 36,000 mosques, 45,000 imams and over 21 million Muslims. By 2030, it will have a Muslim population larger than Saudi Arabia’s today and a Christian population larger than any other country in the world. The world’s largest publisher of Bibles, Amity Printing Company, is located in the Chinese city of Nanjing.
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