After reading this, I was a bit flabbergasted. Anyone who knows anything about Chinese history and culture (and wouldn't a Chinese university student?) would know that over the course of its long history, a number of religions have flourished in China, including Daoism (a native religion) and Buddhism (imported from India). I don't think that it ever occurred to, say, a Buddhist living in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that he or she was not really Chinese! Moreover, in present-day China there are millions of religious believers-- including Daoists, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians--none of whom, I suspect, feel any less Chinese.
After some thought, though, I have come to realize that what this student wrote did make sense, in a way. The Chinese Communist Party has defined a "patriotic" Chinese as someone who supports (and, presumably, believes in) the Party. The Communist Party, as part of its ideology, promotes atheism. Consequently, it follows that to be a good Chinese one must be an atheist. Logically, an atheist cannot believe in a religion (although, of course, some argue atheism is a sort of religion!).
Nevertheless, for me, this is a very narrow definition of national identity. Indeed, it would be a rather foreign (no pun intended) conception of national identity for most Americans, who are used to the idea that individuals can have different political affiliations, religious beliefs, or ethnic backgrounds, and still be Americans. Our common identity is found in the country we call home and in certain values we share. It is my hope that one day the Chinese people will embrace a similarly broad definition of what it means to be Chinese, rather than such a narrow one dictated by political ideology.
Image of the flag of the People's Republic of China from Wikipedia.org