We stopped at a vitrine holding a picture of the two from the 1980s. They were an odd couple: Mr. Xi tall for a man of his generation at 5-foot-11, with the thick black sweptback hair of a South Korean movie star. Next to him, Youming was a wisp in a saffron robe, his head shaven, laughing like the Zen master he was — what could be more absurd than my present situation, he seemed to be saying, walking with a representative of the party that tried to wipe out my faith?

Zhengding was not a one-off in Mr. Xi’s political biography. During a 2005 visit to Zhengding and the Linji Temple, Mr. Xi ordered senior Buddhist leaders to study how the temple had been rebuilt — a clear sign that his stint in Zhengding was meant to be an example of how government and religion should work together. He also called on Buddhists to unite to promote China’s biggest religion — an unusual request from a Communist Party official.

Does any of this prove Mr. Xi’s own religiosity? As Communist Party members, China’s leaders are required to be atheist. And yet Chinese who knew Mr. Xi well believe he at least looked favorably on Buddhism and other traditional religions.

A childhood friend of his who was also his neighbor in the 1980s supported this view in conversations with an American diplomat. According to a record of this transcript released through WikiLeaks, Mr. Xi’s friend — referred to in the diplomatic cable as “the professor” — said he visited Mr. Xi in Fujian, shortly after having left Zhengding. Mr. Xi, according to the professor, “displayed a fascination with Buddhist martial arts, qigong and other mystical powers said to aid health, as well as with Buddhist sacred sites.”

The professor said that he did not know whether Mr. Xi was truly religious but that he “was extremely surprised by how much Xi knew about the subject and Xi’s seeming belief in supernatural forces.”

If Mr. Xi was favorably disposed toward Buddhism, he seems to have had more trouble with Christianity. From 2002 to 2007, he served as party leader of Zhejiang Province, where his administration received a black eye when it confronted local Christians. A congregation in the township of Xiaoshan had built a church, but the government declared it illegal and tried to demolish it in 2006. Hundreds of believers flooded the area, pushing back the police.

Although the government eventually succeeded in tearing down the church, it became one of the most embarrassing episodes in Mr. Xi’s period in Zhejiang.