For China's Buddhist Monks, an IPO Too Far

In China, religion is big business. The famed Shaolin Temple owns dozens of companies and its abbot is popularly known as the "CEO monk." Two of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains are publicly listed. So management at Mount Putuo Tourism Development Co., which oversees a third holy mountain, probably thought that their own initial public offering would cause little controversy.

It didn't work out that way. Last week, after an unrelenting campaign against the IPO by furious monks, China's top securities regulator announced that the listing had been withdrawn. It was an unusual move by an officially atheist government. But under President Xi Jinping, traditional Chinese religions are enjoying a surge in state support, and are increasingly expected to adhere to higher values than the bottom line. The country's extended experiment in commercialized religion, in fact, is under threat.