DAVID AIKMAN is back from three months in China, having taken more than 800 pages of notes, and he reports a religious awakening that could have enormous political implications.

For 23 years the senior foreign correspondent for Time, Aikman has reported all the big international stories of our time. He is an accomplished journalist, the author of a 1998 book containing compelling biographies of Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul, among others. He is also the unusual journalist, interested as he is in the role of religion in a given country.