E/CN.4/1995/91 page 111 General background The People’s Republic of China has an area of 9,596,961 square kilometres; its population was estimated in 1992 at approximately 1,187,004,000, and the population growth rate for the period 1992-2000 has been estimated at 1.2 per cent annually. It consists of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions (Tibet, Xinjiang, Ningxia, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia) and 3 municipalities under direct central Government rule (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin). China is a multi-ethnic and multireligious State, but the majority of its population is atheist. There are five officially recognized religions - Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. The oldest religions present in China are Buddhism and Taoism. Islam, and subsequently Catholicism and Protestantism, became established later and are now recognized as belonging to the group of principal religions. Since the inception of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, these religions have developed in a special historical and political context, major features of which were the cultural revolution of 1966-1976, under which all religious activities were strictly forbidden, and their gradual re-emergence at the end of the 1970s. At the international level, China, which is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, participated in the drafting of a number of international human rights instruments which have an impact in the field of freedom of religion. China is a party to several of them, and in particular the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (which China ratified on 2 March 1992). In this context, the current situation in the sphere of freedom of religion in China - in relation to legislation concerning tolerance and non-discrimination based on religion or belief, the application of that legislation and the policies currently in force - formed the subjects of careful study during the visit by the Special Rapporteur. B. Working methods and activities During his stay in China the Special Rapporteur visited the cities of Beijing, Chengdu (Sichuan Province), Lhasa and Shanghai. In Beijing (21-23 and 30 November), the Special Rapporteur met representatives of the Government - the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Director-General for International Organizations and Conferences in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Deputy Director and officials of the same Ministry; two Deputy Directors of the Prisons Administration Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the same Ministry; the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Public Security and Representatives of the Foreign Relations Department of the same Ministry. The Special Rapporteur also had talks with representatives of the Office of Religious Affairs of the State Affairs Council and with members of the Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Political Advisory Conference of the Chinese People (CCPPC). During his meeting with