The rich find religion

Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi, the real estate tycoon couple, have said on many occasions that religion changed their lives.

They converted to the Baha'i faith in 2005, a religion that originated in Iran 150 years ago, has over 5 million followers around the world and claims to be one the fastest growing religions in the world.

"Baha'i has transformed me," Zhang, CEO of SOHO China, told the Wall Street Journal. Zhang, with a net worth of over $2.7 billion according to forbes.com, says that she and her husband are now focusing less on material success and more on family, charity and spiritual well-being.

Zhang and Pan are not the only entrepreneurs who found religion after they found wealth. About half of the high net worth individuals (HNWI) admit to religious beliefs, according to the Chinese Luxury Consumer White Paper 2011, jointly released by Hurun Report and the Industrial Bank in late March.

The report is based on surveys of 878 individuals with assets over 6 million yuan ($952,200), living in 29 cities.

The white paper shows about 30 percent of respondents believe in Buddhism, 5 percent are Protestants, 3 percent Muslim, 2 percent Catholic and 10 percent believe in other faiths.

More wealthy believers

The numbers seem to indicate a higher percentage of the wealthy people believe in a religion than do the general population.

Experts say motivations seem to vary from the need to pursue a spiritual quest, to superstitious practices that are believed to ensure continued prosperity, to seeking atonement for wrongs they may have committed on their climb up the ladder of success.

It's the first time that statistics have been made public on the religious beliefs of wealthy Chinese.

"It's a question often asked when traveling internationally, do Chinese entrepreneurs have religious beliefs and if so, what are they," said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of Hurun Report.

Many scholars who specialize in religion studies are not surprised by the high percentage of the religious among the super-rich.

"Our analysis shows that people in the private sector are more likely than government employees to identify themselves at religious," said Yang Fenggang, a sociology professor who heads a center on religion and Chinese society at Purdue University in the US.

The white paper didn't reveal whether the entrepreneurs were raised in a religious family or found religion after they struck it rich.

Some areas in China, such as Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, are known for their deep roots in Christianity and Buddhism. For entrepreneurs from those regions, religion is part of their life and their business practices.

The report notes that 11 percent of the HNWIs under the age of 30 believe in Christianity, a much higher percentage than those over 30 years old.

"This indicates that belief in Christianity is growing," said Hoogewerf.

Official statistics put the number of religious people in China at over 100 million, but academic research often indicates the percentage is likely higher.

Sociologist Yang's research, using the Chinese Spiritual Life Survey conducted by the Horizon Research and Consultancy Group in 2007, showed more than 18 percent of respondents self-identified with Buddhism and 3.2 percent declared themselves to be Christian.

A recent Pew Report of Global Christianity estimated that 5 percent of Chinese mainlanders are Christian.

Yang said that some people may be reluctant to identify themselves as religious for political or social reasons, and so the actual number may be higher.