Senior Chinese official calls for religious believers to contribute more to society

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese official is calling for those with religious beliefs in the country to make more social and economic contributions to the building of "socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Jia Qinglin, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the call here on Wednesday when he met with model workers of the religious circles.

He asked them to fully implement the CPC's basic principle for its work related to religious affairs and to mobilize more believers to play active roles in social and economic development to meet with requirements in new situations.

The wisdom and energy of those with beliefs should better be directed to activities that make their life more prosperous, said Jia, the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body.

He stressed the enhanced training of religious professionals to upgrade their working capacity.

The official estimate of religious believers in China is 100 million. Experts, however, say the true number may be triple.

According to official statistics, Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Christianity and Islam are the five major religions, accounting for about 67.4 percent of religious Chinese.