Karma Chameleon: The CCP turns to Buddhism

Continuing our series on belief in China, we look at the revival of Buddhism, which is being embraced by citizens and the Chinese state. While temple visits increase, the state is funding temples and martial arts academies from Nepal to Tanzania. As Xi Jinping extols Buddhism with Chinese characteristics, the Chinese state is leveraging Buddhism diplomacy to its advantage. To find out more, Louisa and Graeme are joined by anthropologist Gareth Fisher from Syracuse University, the author of From Comrades to Bodhisattvas , and political scientist Chien-Peng Chung from Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Image: c/- Bitter Winter . Weibo image of Xi Jinping visiting Hongjue Temple, 18 June 2024. Transcripts available at

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Karma Chameleon: The CCP turns to Buddhism is an episode from The Little Red Podcast by The Little Red Podcast.

This episode is 49:27 long.

This episode was published on Jul 22, 2025.

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