*BEIJING: *A white paper released by the State Council Information Officein China has revealed that Muslims are the biggest minority ethnic group inthe country.

China has over 20 million Muslims, more than 57,000 clerical personnel, and35,000 Islamic mosques, according to the white paper released on Tuesday.

In total, the country has nearly 200 million religious believers and morethan 380,000 clerical personnel, the paper outlined. The major religionspracticed in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, andProtestantism, said the document.

According to the document, there are around 222,000 Buddhist clericalpersonnel and over 40,000 Taoist clerical personnel.

The 10 minority ethnic groups, the majority of whose population believe inIslam, total significantly more than 20 million, with about 57,000 clericalpersonnel, said the document.

Catholicism and Protestantism have 6 million and 38 million followers inChina, respectively, with 8,000 and 57,000 clerical personnel, said thewhite paper.

There are approximately 5,500 religious groups in China, including sevennational organizations which are Buddhist Association of China, ChineseTaoist Association, China Islamic Association, Chinese Catholic PatrioticAssociation, Bishops’ Conference of Catholic Church in China, NationalCommittee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churchesin China, and China Christian Council.

“Conditions of places of worship have been notably improved,” claims thedocument.

At present, there are about 144,000 places of worship registered forreligious activities in China, among which are 33,500 Buddhist temples(including 28,000 Han Buddhist temples, 3,800 Tibetan Buddhist lamaseries,and 1,700 Theravada Buddhist temples), 9,000 Taoist temples, 35,000 Islamicmosques, 6,000 Catholic churches and places of assembly spread across 98dioceses, and 60,000 Protestant churches and places of assembly, it said. -APP