Anyone in China over the age of, say, 30 has lived through more change than most Westerners can imagine in a lifetime.
In the early 1970s, China was in the grip of the Cultural Revolution, one of the most extreme incarnations of Communism the world has known, a chaotic period when traditional culture and values were all but eradicated. The Maoism that replaced Chinese tradition has since been eviscerated by three decades of economic reforms and opening that began in 1978. Today, it often seems that the pursuit of growth and profit are China's new reigning orthodoxy.
Not surprisingly, many Chinese feel unmoored by these turbulent ideological swings. There is a growing belief, especially among urban residents who have benefitted most from economic change, that China's material success has come without any accompanying moral anchor for society. They argue that this dearth of morality in China's materialistic modern society is the cause of many of the country's well-known woes: corruption, environmental abuses, a growing gap between rich and poor, and even China's hyperreliance on cash, which many argue flows from a lack of trust needed to develop a flourishing credit culture.
The result is a widening search for religious and spiritual traditions to fill the void -- a search that some think could change society as much in coming decades as economic reforms have.
'When China opened up . . . many of us believed that the market would save China, and let China become stronger and more civilized,' says Zhao Xiao, a Beijing-based economist who writes frequently about religion and morality. 'And they were right in a way, because people became successful,' he says. 'But the market isn't perfect. . . . It stimulates greed and arouses desires.'
As a consequence, says Mr. Zhao, 'China is going through a new transformation. This transformation will be the most profound for China -- far more important than the superficial changes in wealth.'
That search for answers is surprisingly broad. Protestantism is gaining followers, and the revival of Buddhism is evident in the increasing number of people who wear prayer-bead bracelets -- a rare sight in China just 10 years ago. Among a small but growing class of wealthy executives in Beijing, Baha'i, a factionless faith founded in 19th-century Persia that stresses the unity of all groups including races, classes and religions, is gaining a following.
Xue Yongxin, founder of pharmaceutical company Chengdu Enwei Group who practices both Daoism and Buddhism, says spirituality taught him that financial success would not fulfill him. 'A person's [material] fortune is an illusion,' he says. 'If it's all that you are, then you will lose yourself. And when we lose ourselves we may as well be penniless. Material things just give you an average lifestyle; take your extra money and do something good with it.'
Even the officially atheist Communist Party is beginning to embrace at least the trappings of spirituality and tradition. During the late Maoist era, worship was off-limits. Christian priests were often imprisoned, and even native traditions -- like the 2,000-year-old philosophy of Confucianism -- were actively stamped out.
China explicitly guarantees 'freedom of religious belief' and protects 'normal religious activities' in its state constitution, adopted in 1982, four years after Deng Xiaoping initiated economic reforms. But the government has continued to tightly control religious practices -- limiting worship to officially sanctioned services overseen by one of five 'patriotic religious associations' governing Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestant Christianity and Catholicism.
The party's relationship with religion remains strained -- as recent clashes with Tibetan Buddhist monks show. It crushes movements that it perceives as threats -- such as the spiritual discipline called Falun Gong, the target of a brutal crackdown after its adherents surrounded the leadership compound in Beijing for a silent protest against criticism in the state-run media.
Falun Gong remains banned, and China still frequently punishes people who engage in unsanctioned religious activity.
Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. At the party's twice-a-decade national congress last October, leaders endorsed the amendment of the party's constitution -- separate from the national constitution -- to acknowledge religion for the first time, with a clause saying the party should 'rally religious believers in making contributions to economic and social development.' Echoing that idea, party chief Hu Jintao, who is also China's president, called on the assembled party elite at the gathering to 'bring into play the positive role of religious personages and believers in promoting economic and social development.'
Mr. Hu's administration has also championed a vaguely religious-sounding agenda aimed at healing social rifts in the pursuit of what he calls a 'harmonious society.' The party has even issued its own version of the Ten Commandments, called 'The Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces,' a list of moralistic precepts for good party members (No. 6: 'To be honest and trustworthy is an honor; To lose one's integrity for personal profit is a disgrace.')
China hasn't updated its official tally of religious adherents in years. But back in 1997, when the government published a white paper on religion, it counted more than 100 million followers of various faiths. Outside experts say there are far more than that today -- even some officials estimate that the number of Buddhists alone tops 100 million, and experts say there are tens of millions of Christians. But even the government's total is far larger than the membership of the Communist Party, which today claims about 73 million members.
Often, Chinese are finding their faiths entirely anew, as a direct consequence of China's growing embrace of internationalism since 1978. Mr. Zhao, 41 years old, the Beijing-based economist, grew up in eastern China's Jiangxi province with almost no exposure to religion.
In 2002, while working as a researcher for a government agency, he traveled to the U.S. to do research on the differences between Chinese and American business cultures. Though he says he wasn't religious at the time, what struck him most as he visited academics in several American cities was the ubiquity of churches. 'In China,' he says, 'what we have everywhere is nightclubs,' says Mr. Zhao, a professor at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing.
Mr. Zhao returned home with a fascination about Christianity and what some would call an idealized view of America. He encapsulated his thoughts in a provocative essay titled 'Market Economies With Churches, and Market Economies Without Churches.' The piece, which has since been widely circulated on the Internet in China, argued that the biggest difference between the U.S. and China lay not in America's taller buildings or greater wealth or more advanced technology, nor even in its democratic political system, but in the prevalence of religion, which he said provided a moral foundation to America's economic system lacking in China.
Mr. Zhao believes that one of China's biggest cultural flaws is that its heroes have generally always been people prized for their ability to gain and hold power. That mind-set, he says, has dominated society during the reform era -- both for individuals and for the nation as a whole. 'China thinks it has to be bigger,' he says. 'China wants to catch up to the outside in terms of who's more powerful, not who's healthier or who's more principled.'
Today Mr. Zhao travels across China doing research -- and meeting Christians who share his interests in business and economics. He's part of a monthly conference call with about a half-dozen executives in cities around China, and they discuss how to better use Christian principles in their daily business lives.
One of those who join the calls is Bian Shuping, who heads a door and window company in the rugged northeastern city of Harbin. Mr. Bian, 45, grew up in the small city of Mudanjiang, where his family of six shared a 215-square-foot apartment. After economic reforms, he started a series of companies in different industries, several of which became successful. By the early part of this decade he, his wife, two children and his mother were living, along with their housekeeping staff, in several adjoining apartments totaling about 8,600 square feet.
But Mr. Bian found that business success wasn't making him happy. His marriage was suffering. The rituals of Chinese business -- backdoor deals and late, boozy nights at karaoke bars -- made him feel like his life was 'polluted,' he says. He says that his lifestyle made him fat, and that he would go out and 'drink until I was red in the face.'
In 2003, he got a call from an old classmate who was running an air-conditioning company and wanted to discuss a business proposal. When they met, however, they never got around to talking business. Over several hours, his classmate talked about how he had spent time in the U.S. and converted to Christianity there, and what it meant to him. The conversation inspired Mr. Bian. That October, he went with his friend to church, and was hooked.
Mr. Bian credits his new faith with changing his business practices as well as his personal life. Starting in 2006, he tried to eliminate paying kickbacks and bribes that are common in China's construction industry. The result: His company lost more than 10% of its contracts, and revenue plunged 20%, causing Mr. Bian to fear it might go bankrupt.
But Mr. Bian, whose company has revenue of just under $1 million a year, took the money he was saving on bribes and used it to upgrade his products. That helped business recover.
'When a person has money, he can think about more than just feeding himself,' Mr. Bian says. 'We realize there must be something bigger than us that created the world. Everyone is chasing it now, but they are chasing it in different directions.'
在中国，任何一个已过而立之年的人经历过的变革恐怕比大多数西方人一辈子会经历的变革还要多。
上个世纪70年代初，文化大革命在中国如火如荼，那是一个混乱不堪的年代，传统文化和价值观被彻底摒弃，所谓共产主义思潮被发挥到登峰造极的地步。文革结束后，中国在1978年开始实行改革开放。此后的三十年中，曾经取代中国传统思想的毛泽东思想逐渐流于表面。如今，追求经济增长和利润似乎成了中国新的主导思想。
在意识形态的剧烈变化之下，很多中国人感到精神无所寄托。越来越多的人相信，虽然中国在物质领域获得了成功，但社会缺乏道德依托，这种想法在对经济发展受益最多的城市居民中间尤为突出。他们认为，在物欲横流的中国现代社会中，道德的缺失是造成腐败、环境污染、贫富差距增大等诸多问题的根源，甚至市场交换中对现金的过度依赖也与此不无关系，因为中国人彼此之间缺乏信任，导致难以培育出成熟的信贷环境。
结果就是，人们越来越多地从宗教信仰和精神传统中寻求出路，弥补精神上的空虚，一些人认为，在未来几十年中，这一趋势引发的社会变革可能不亚于经济改革的影响。
北京科技大学教授、经济学家赵晓说，中国改革开放之初，我们很多人都相信市场会拯救中国，让中国变得更强大、更文明；从某种角度上讲，他们是对的，因为人们获得了成功。不过市场并不完美，它也会孳生贪婪和欲望。赵晓经常撰文就宗教和道德问题发表看法。
赵晓说，结果，中国开始经历一场新的转变，这种变化对中国来说将是最为深刻的一次，比表面财富的积累要重要的多。
这种精神求索涉及的范围之广出人意料。皈依新教的人不断增多，佛教的复兴从手戴佛珠的人越来越多也可见一斑，而这在十年前还很少见。在北京一部分人数不多但正不断壮大的富有高管队伍里，“巴哈伊”正开始流行。巴哈伊起源于19世纪的波斯，崇尚人类不分种族、阶级和宗教信仰实现广泛团结。
制药公司成都恩威集团(Chengdu Enwei Group)的创始人薛永新信仰道教和佛教。他说，精神信仰使他明白经济上的成功并不会让他拥有充实的人生；人的物质财富只是一种虚幻，如果只有物质财富，那么你就会失去自我；人一旦失去自我，就可能在精神上一无所有；物质上的东西只能保证你实现一般的生活方式、人们应该用自己多余的钱做善事。
即使是信奉无神论的共产党也开始接纳精神信仰和传统，至少表面上如此。毛泽东时代人们没有宗教信仰自由。基督教徒常常因此锒铛入狱，传统教义也被统统砸烂，比如有着两千年历史的儒教。
1982年在邓小平提出经济改革四年后，中国对宪法进行了第三次修改，明确提出保证“宗教信仰的自由”和保护“正常的宗教活动”。不过政府仍然严格控制宗教活动，人们只能参加官方批准的受涉及佛教、道教、伊斯兰教、新教和天主教的五大“爱国宗教协会”管理的活动。
但中国共产党与宗教的关系仍很紧张，近期西藏骚乱事件就可见一斑。政府对它认为构成威胁的活动会出手平息，比如曾吸引众多信徒并组织过新华门静坐的法轮功。
不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。去年10月召开的中国共产党第十七次全国代表大会通在党章修订稿中首次承认宗教信仰的合法性，其中一条指出，共产党应该“团结信教群众为经济社会发展作贡献”。中共中央总书记、国家主席胡锦涛也号召与会党员干部“发挥宗教界人士和信教群众在促进经济社会发展中的积极作用”。
本届政府提出了创建“和谐社会”的目标，并针对创建过程出现的社会动荡发起了有点类似宗教意味的精神文明建设活动。中央甚至还制定了类似基督教“十戒”的“八荣八耻”，列出党员干部应遵循的道德规范。其中第六条说：以诚实守信为荣，以见利忘义为耻。
中国官方对信教群众的人数已经多年没有更新。1997年政府发表的有关宗教问题的白皮书中称，中国有各类信教群众一亿多人。据外部专家表示，现在的人数要远远超过一亿，甚至有些政府官员也估计单单是佛教人士就已经达到了一亿，专家估计，基督教徒也有数千万人。不过即使是政府公布的数字也远远超过了共产党员的人数。目前中国共产党员据称有7,300万人。
中国人常常发现他们的信仰跟以前完全不同，这是中国自1978年开始不断加大对外开放的直接结果。今年41岁的赵晓少年时代是在江苏度过的，那个年代，人们跟宗教基本没有任何联系。
2002年在政府机构任研究员的赵晓被派到美国研究中美商业文化的差异。他说，当时他尚未信教，但当他到几个美国城市的科研院校访问时，无处不在的教堂让他大为震惊。他说，在中国，无处不在的是夜总会。
回国时，赵晓已对基督教心驰神往，对美国也抱着被一些人称为理想化了的美国观。他在一篇引发争议的文章《有教堂的市场经济与无教堂的市场经济》中阐明了自己的观点。这篇文章在中国互联网上广为流传。文章指出，中美之间最大的差别并不是美国有更多高楼大厦、更富有或技术更先进，甚至也不是其民主政治体制，而是宗教的普及。他指出，这为美国经济体系提供了中国所缺乏的道德基础。
赵晓相信，中国文化的最大缺陷之一就是，中国人崇拜的通常都是那些有能力获得权势的人。他说，这种观念在中国改革时期占据了主导地位，对个人和整个国家都是如此。他说，中国想的是让国家变得更大、在国力方面追上其他国家，而不是在思想上或道德上更强。
如今，赵晓经常到国内各地作研究，并与跟自己在商业和经济上有共同兴趣的基督教徒会面。他参加了有六、七位成员的讨论组，分布在全国不同城市的成员每月会举行一次电话会议，讨论如何在日常商业活动中更好地运用基督教义。
边书平也是讨论组成员之一，他现年45岁，在哈尔滨经营着一家门窗公司。他的童年在东北小城牡丹江度过，那时，全家六口挤在一套不到20平米的小房子里。改革开放后，他先后成立了数家属于不同行业的企业，有几家很成功。到本世纪初，他带着母亲和妻子、两个孩子及保姆住进了总面积近800平米的别墅里。
不过边书平发现，商业上的成功并没有使他感到幸福。他的婚姻亮起了红灯。他说，中国商业圈子里通行的那套走后门拉关系、夜夜辗转于酒店、歌厅的生活让他感觉自己的生活被“污染”了；他的生活方式让他早早发福了，他常常会在外面一直喝到面红耳赤才罢休。
2003年，一位做空调生意的老同学给他打来电话，说想和他谈谈一个商业项目。但是见面后，谈话根本就没提到生意的事。连着几个小时这个同学都在说在美国的生活，他如何皈依了基督教，信教对他产生了怎样的影响。这次谈话启发了边书平。那年10月，他和朋友去了教堂，从此就被深深吸引住了。
边书平说，他的宗教信仰不仅使他做生意的方式发生了变化，他自己的生活也变了。2006年，他开始不再送礼、给回扣，而这是中国商界早已司空见惯的做法。结果，他的公司拿到的业务减少了10%以上，收入更是减少了20%，边书平甚至担心公司可能会因此破产。
不过，边书平把从前用于送礼的钱用在改进产品上，生意也因此有所好转。现在公司的年收入接近100万美元。
他说，人有了钱之后，除了养家糊口之外，可以思考点别的事情；我们意识到一定有什么比我们更为强大的东西创造了这个世界。人人都在追逐它，不过，追求的方向不同。