SANTA ANA, CA (NNI) – A Shenzhen University professor told participants in an international seminar on Confucianism and Christianity that more and more Chinese people today are looking for spiritual fulfillment. Though he did not offer any specific statistics, Associate Professor Liu Xiaofeng said China is experiencing a growth in believers and a decrease in followers of Marxism.

Liu said he believed more research on Christianity is necessary to “help people understand religion and not blindly oppose it,” according to a July 23 report in Asian Focus. Because of a lack of understanding and the impact of communist propaganda during their childhood, Liu alleged that many young people reject Christianity while at the same time they express a need to fill a spiritual vacuum. Liu attributes this change to the effects of the Cultural Revolution which “shook their belief in Marxism.”

China watchers say the West has long realized this spiritual vacuum existed among the young people, but this is the first time a Chinese academician has admitted it. According to the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong, “Christians outside China welcome professor Liu’s assessment and his recommendation that young people’s prejudice against Christianity be removed.”