Xinli001's internet radio page. (Photo/Xinli001.com)

China has seen a surge in the number of people seeking inner peace, leading to soaring demand for psychiatrists and reviving interest in Buddhism, according to Guangzhou's Southern Weekly.

After three decades of rapid economic growth that have made China the world's second-largest economy, happiness has now become a popular topic, the paper said.

"No matter what, Chinese people do not live happily," said Xiao Zeping, the superintendent of the Shanghai Mental Health Center, at an annual applied psychology conference held in Guangzhou in March.

Li Yan, the head of the psychiatry and sleeping disorder department at Guangzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said the number of visits made by patients to the department rose from 7,000 in 2005 to 50,000 last year.

"The incidences of depression, anxiety disorder and schizophrenia in China are higher than the global average," she said.

This has led to the rapid growth of the self-help industry in China. Psychology information website Xinli001 has seen its number of registered users grow to 9.31 million since being launched four years ago.

Urbanization is blamed for people's unhappiness, with Wuhan University professor Huang Yongming arguing in a study that pollution and food safety issues are the main sources of people's misery.

Oxford University clinical psychology professor Mark Williams also said that Chinese people desperately want to find a way to maintain inner peace at a time of rapid change and regular anxiety.

Buddhism has become the top choice for most people, the newspaper said, citing government data that showed the number of Buddhist venues growing from 13,000 in 1997 to 33,000 in 2013.

Chinese people have also become interested in meditation, the newspaper said.

Over 100 temples across China hold meditation camps every year, and a group of executives including Huayi Brothers chair Wang Zhongjun and Tsingtao Brewery chair Jin Zhiguo, who went to business school together, traveled to Taiwan to practice meditation at the Fo Guang Shan monastery in May 2014.

Gong Jun, a professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, said the number of applicants to the Institute of Comparative Religious Studies has also increased in recent years.

When China's president, Xi Jinping, said in February that people having spiritual beliefs will give better hope for the nation and strength to the country, it was also interpreted by religious groups as progress.

Wang Zuoan, head of China's State Administration of Religious Affairs, also urged media outlets in February not to avoid religious issues, which were deemed sensitive in the past, because religion has been recognized as a force that helps build a peaceful society.