Ian Johnson interviews Yuan Zhiming, a Chinese dissident and convert to Christianity. Zhiming's take on why the Chinese government promotes or advocates for Buddhism, Daoism, or Confucianism, but not Christianity:
Because [these non-Christian traditions are] Chinese. Mao is Chinese. Laozi is Chinese. Confucius is Chinese. Buddhism has been in China for a long time, so it’s treated as indigenous. But Jesus is universal. It’s being part of the whole world. This is a threat to the Party, because it wants to use nationalism to rule. Christians can’t believe in a Mao because they have a true God. If just 25 percent of Chinese became Christians, then China would be really different. The spirit of communism would be broken. It’s like a software program. If everyone uses the same software to think, they think alike.
The Dish 