<p>
Members of China’s growing middle class are turning to Buddhism in droves, <a title=”Dexter Roberts reports in <I>BusinessWeek</I>” href=”http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_03/b4067050290718.htm?chan=magazine+channel_what%27s+next” target=”_blank”>Dexter Roberts reports in <i>BusinessWeek</i>
</a>. Buddhism has deep roots in China, after arriving from India in the first century. Since the Communist party took power, they’ve fought to suppress the contemplative religion. Those efforts seem to have failed, considering Buddhism’s comeback in recent years, fueled by a faddish yuppie following. Now that the Chinese are finding themselves suddenly wealthy, they face a paradox of money well-known to American suburban Smashing Pumpkins fans: being rich doesn’t make you happy. Many hope that studying Buddhism will.</p>
<p>–<i>
<a href=”https://www.utne.com/bios/utne-reader-interns.aspx”>
<font color=”#800080″>Brendan Mackie</font>
</a>
</i>
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<p>
<i>Photo by <a title=”Michael Mooney” href=”http://flickr.com/photos/kungpaochicken/323577209/” target=”_blank”>Michael Mooney</a>, licensed under <a title=”Creative Commons” href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en” target=”_blank”>Creative Commons</a>.</i>
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