You want to see money grubbing in Religion? Come on down to Texas. We have non-denominational 'churches' with 10,000+ stadium seating with motor bikes flying through the air on stage. They actually advertise these on TV!
http://www.fotw.org/
Didn't the old Chinese dynasty system have a life of aproximately 200 years. After about 200, a good guy would overthrow the corrupt dynasty, then 200 years later it was fully corrupt, ripe for over-throw.