article_snippet: A science graduate from China's elite Tsinghua University, Beijinger Robert Zhao had been taught to mistrust superstition and religion, but in the culture and devotion of the Buddhists Beijinger Robert Zhao met
article_snippet: While Buddhism has a long history in China, entering via missionaries from India during the Han dynasty, it was repressed during the Maoist era -- many monasteries and temples were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and monks actively punished for believing in "superstition.
article_snippet: But now, a growing number of Chinese are rediscovering China's dormant Buddhist traditions.
article_snippet: Some discover it at university, where Buddhist groups are active and famous monks and lamas give lectures.  
article_snippet: someone else also says that the Chinese Communist Party policy has "moved toward treating Buddhism more favorably than other religions.
article_snippet: someone else at Purdue University says that for most people in China, Buddhism is treated more as culture than a religion.
article_snippet: most people in China, Buddhism is treated more as culture than a religion may visit temples or read Buddhist books, but  few people treat Buddhist books as a religion that requires serious commitment.
article_snippet: On a recent weekend, more than four hundred people attended the annual gathering of Beijing Ren Ai Foundation, a Buddhist charitable organization, at Longquan Monastery on the mountainous outskirts of the capital.
article_snippet: For attendee Geng Hui'er, a 26-year-old who works and lives in Beijing, Buddhism was something she rediscovered after returning from studying abroad in England.
highlights_snippet: A growing number of Chinese are rediscovering China's Buddhist traditions .
  
highlights_snippet: Buddhism has a long history in China but was repressed during the Maoist era .