It was founded in 1980, and It was the first religious institute in universities among mainland china after culture revolution.

Over these 40 years, this institute has enjoyed the constant support of the university authorities, and through the hard work and efforts of three generations of scholars, it has gained   several  ¡°First¡± among chinese universities:

In 1982- Became the first religious department with an accredited M A program  of Religion.

In 1990- Became the first religious department with an accredited  PHD program  of Religion.

2002- Became the first department for Daoist studies to be recognized by the Ministry of  Education  as a National Key Discipline.

In 2004- Became the first religious department to accept post-Doctorate scholars of religions.

In 2005- Became the first  national "985 project" department for religious and social studies among universities to be  recognized by the Central Government of PRC.

From 1982 to the present, Journal of Religious Studies is the only scholarly religious publication among chinese universities to be distributed within China and abroad.

This institute offers Master Degree of Philosophy and PHD in Daoism Studies ;  Buddhism Studies;  Christianity Studies;  Theory of Religions Studies; Chinese Minority Religions Studies, Confucius  Studies;  and accepts post-Doctorate scholars in all these six study fields.

There are 18 professors, 6 associate professors ,  5 lecturers among us , and there are 24 PhD holders among us. We are a strong research team. Since the institute¡¯s beginning, there have been published over 200 major books and over 2000 scholarly theses. We now have more that 60 doctoral students and 40 postgraduate students,  nearly 10 post doctoral students.