This is, after all, a country that just inaugurated an annual Hero of Atheism award. (This year's winner was Sima Nan, a 43-year-old ex-journalist who debunks the "superhuman" feats of local shamans on his TV show.) "The sincere advocacy of freedom ofreligious belief is based on our understanding of the dialectical materialistic theory, " says Ye Xiaowen, director of the State Council's ReligiousAffairsBureau.