I’m not here to explore if China has religious freedom—I’m in no way an expert on deity management. I am, however, more than happy to offer a glimpse of China-style humor when it comes to a subject as intractable and sensitive as religion: when in doubt, do some sports.

The sports games held in China’s Yunnan Province a decade ago best manifest how these China-style Olympics of religion are typically carried out—an unexpected harkening back, by the way, to the Olympics’ origins as a form of worship of the gods. Participants must be members of the religious community who are officially registered under the state’s Religious Affairs Department, usually under the major five religions in China, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, or Protestantism. The sports event would feature sports as secular as one can possibly imagine, including sprinting, long-distance running, and rope jumping. On second thought though, running and jumping are not entirely secular in the China context, as monks and Taoist practitioners are historically believed to possess superior capability in running and jumping. But basketball has proven a popular item, as shown in the Hangzhou Religious Community’s Sports Event held last year in celebration of the PRC’s 75th anniversary, where 20 interfaith teams competed.

As most of these games are organized by China’s Religious Affairs Department, I’m wondering if Beijing is trying to quash factional divisiveness with, well, dopamine. While the Chinese word hexie 和谐 (harmony) has unfortunately become the butt of the joke in most public discourse due to an overuse of the word by Beijing in earlier years, it is undeniably a quintessential Chinese quest—unity achieved through a balance of all elements, including all religions.

Tang Taizong (598-649 CE) and Qianlong (1711 – 1799 CE) , two of the most well-known Chinese emperors who both expanded Chinese territories tremendously and thus had to face the happy trouble of diverse domestic religions, knew best the art of check-and-balance. No single religion was ever elevated to the status of state religion, time spent with religious leaders carefully calculated so as not to convey the wrong message.

The most appealing part of great Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang who made the epoch pilgrimage to India to Tang Taizong was not the Buddhist scriptures he translated, but his observation of all the countries and ethnicities along his travel. Xuanzang was, in essence, a walking almanac of the Silk Road, with a useful appendix listing things Tang Taizong could leverage in wars or in negotiations. After Xuanzang had finished a book detailing his journey at Tang Taizong’s request, the emperor still declined to write a preface for Xuanzang’s Buddhist scripture . Xuanzang shouldn’t have asked, if he knew more about statecraft.

The Qianlong Emperor, on the other hand, hedged his position by becoming Manjushri (the Bodhisattva of Wisdom) in Buddhism, a Hakan to Muslim communities, and a generous patron of Taoism. Another marvelous way to prevent any single religion from dominating the state.

By this time, the sight of temples in China raising national flags during PRC anniversary celebrations should no longer come as a legitimate surprise. Quite a remarkable scene worth seeing, if anything.

Editor: Zhiyu Wang