Although the Communist Party has not succeeded in stamping out religion in China, it continues to suppress believers. Chinese Christianity receives the most attention in the West, but other religions have much deeper roots in the country. For instance, Islam arrived centuries ago, along the silk route. From time immemorial religion has been the cement holding together the various groups in China's population. But as a result of Communist suppression, the Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian temples - once symbols of national unity - are now little more than attractions for Western tourists.

James Whitlow Delano (b. 1960, United States) is stationed in Tokyo, but makes poetic reportages all over the world. His report on the disappearance of the rain forest in Indonesia was to be seen in 2006 in the Noorderlicht exhibition Another Asia.