List of Characters
Note on Spellings and Reporting
Introduction
Prologue: Shanghai, 1956
Part I. Foreign Ghosts
1 Cook: Fujian Province, Mid-1800s
2 Doctor: Fujian Province, 1890
3 Firstborn: Fuzhou, 1907
Part II. Patriots
4 Light and Truth: Shanghai, 1913
5 A Modern Man: Aboard SS Nanking, 1918
6 Second Daughter: Fuzhou, 1920
7 Running Dog: Fuzhou, 1924
8 Alma Mater: Fuzhou, 1928
Part III. A House Divided
9 Watchman Nee: Shanghai, 1932
10 Island of Shanghai: Shanghai, 1937
11 Bund to Boardwalk: Shanghai, 1949
Part IV. New Order
12 American Wolves: Shanghai, 1950
13 Missing: Shanghai, 1955
14 Prelude: Shanghai, 1957
Part V. Bad Elements
15 Lane 170: Shanghai, 1966
16 Yellow Music: Shanghai, 1968
17 Barefoot Doctor: Jilin Province, 1969
18 Passages: Shanghai, 1971
19 Father, Hello! Shanghai, 1972
20 Lost: Jilin Province, 1973
Part IV. Revival
21 Faith: Fuzhou, 2015
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Jennifer Lin is an award-winning journalist and former correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer in Beijing, New York, and Washington, DC.
Lin, a former journalist, weaves the history of her family—through
success and persecution, family relationships and separation—into
the wider history of 19th- and 20th-century China, with a focus on
the role and influence of Christianity. She begins with the
conversion of her Chinese great-great-grandfather to Christianity
and traces his descendants through her grandfather, a minister
educated in the United States, and her father, a Philadelphia-based
doctor. Lin’s family story is unique, providing a view of recent
and contemporary Chinese life that differs from the standard
histories, and it’s emotionally compelling, particularly when she
describes the years Lin’s father spent separated from his parents
and siblings with little insight into their experiences of the
Cultural Revolution and emigrating to the U.S. Lin writes with a
novelist’s narrative flair and grace and a historian’s fine eye for
detail, and as she sketches the personalities, dreams, and life
circumstances of her relatives, her thorough research and
compassion for her subjects are evident. Scholars and lay readers
interested in China will enjoy this vital work.
*Publishers Weekly, Starred Review*
Some authors find the world in a teacup, but author Lin finds it,
instead, in a single Chinese family, hers, the Lins, whose fortunes
and religious evolution she follows over the course of five
generations that, together, epitomize the rise of Christianity in
China. A former reporter, Lin has done prodigious research to limn
the history of her family and, by extension, that of China, too.
She demonstrates an extraordinary gift for verisimilitude, bringing
her material to vivid life as she begins her story in the last
quarter of the nineteenth century with Old Lin, a
fisherman-turned-cook for Anglican missionaries. From that humble
beginning, the family’s story is one of upward mobility. Old Lin’s
grandson and the author’s grandfather, for example, attended the
prestigious St. John’s University in Shanghai on his way to
becoming an academic, clergyman, and prolific writer; his
brother-in-law Watchman Nee was an even more celebrated minister
with a wide following. Together, the author argues, the two men
built a religious foundation that—despite the terrible depredations
of the Cultural Revolution—was sturdy enough to support the
contemporary religious revival in China. Richly detailed and
informed by fascinating characters, Lin’s story is altogether a
compelling and inspiring one that is sure to interest a wide range
of readers.
*Booklist, Starred Review*
A Christian odyssey through three centuries of Chinese history.
Family stories have a way of unfolding gradually, in bits and
pieces, and former longtime Philadelphia Inquirer correspondent
Lin's is no exception. The author grew up hearing occasional
stories from her Shanghainese father, a preoccupied neurosurgeon,
about his father, a minister, along with another relative, an uncle
'with the curious name of Watchman Nee' who was China's version of
Billy Graham. Only after the post-Cultural Revolution détente were
she and her family permitted to visit, and only then did the
official repression of Chinese Christians begin to lift somewhat.
Lin recounts the origins of the faith there with the arrival of
European missionaries, their proselytizing coming at about the time
that true opium, and not just that of the masses, was being
imported in quantity—and often leading to a view among Chinese that
there should be 'no distinction between missionary and merchant.'
In later years, writes the author, the communist state attempted to
co-opt Christian churches with state-appointed clerics, when it
wasn't outright persecuting Christians to begin with. Lin traces
the story of her family's increasing involvement with organized
Christianity over the years, finally leading to Watchman Nee, who
early on in the communist era was accused of espionage and being an
'economic criminal' because of his family's bourgeois
pharmaceutical business. By Lin's account, he did what he could to
work within the boundaries of the state's evolving religious
policy, sometimes, Lin reports, 'coyly.' The author's portraits of
family members and other Shanghainese and their many difficulties
during the worst years of the repression are affecting. As for the
state of Christianity in China now, she expresses guarded optimism;
though Watchman Nee's works are still banned, she writes that one
pastor told her the old repression would be 'impossible' because
'there are too many believers.' A useful, interesting book for
students of modern Chinese history and of missionary
Christianity.
*Kirkus*
Through exhaustive research and primary interviews, Lin debuts with
this fascinating story of her family, uncovering her paternal
side’s lengthy adherence to the Christian faith. Born and raised in
Philadelphia, Lin grew up knowing little about her relatives in
China. However, as she grew older and became more aware of the
tribulations of her Chinese relatives, she decided to delve into
this history, exploring revelations of both a personal and
spiritual nature. China’s tumultuous last two centuries witnessed
the rise of imperialism, burgeoning nationalism (accompanied with
xenophobia), and recent communism (the Cultural Revolution of
1966–76 saw even further measures taken against foreign beliefs and
systems). Yet, the deeply planted seed of Christian faith remained
strong and flourished within Lin’s family. Interviewing her distant
kin was often a challenge as many were uncomfortable talking about
past troubles. Consequently, this work is an intriguing
interlocution between memory and fact. VERDICT Lin’s family serves
as an apt proxy for all Chinese Christians whose faith endured
during a time of great censure. This book serves as a solid primer
on the subject as there have been few books which have examined
this little known history.
*Library Journal*
Jennifer Lin’s ties to the characters fill the reader with empathy,
leaving the reader feeling as if they themselves are standing on
the Bund in Shanghai with Pastor Lin, watching his sons sail away,
knowing that this would be their last goodbye. Jennifer Lin is a
storyteller.... Tales like that of the Lin family deserve to be
told again and again, because narratives like Shanghai Faithful
reinterpret history, providing an alternative to the official
account. Even if we remain ultimately unable to reverse the passage
of time, it is only by allowing memories and official accounts to
coexist that we are able to piece together the larger picture. This
is the tenacity of memory.
*Los Angeles Review of Books*
This panoramic, true story spans thousands of miles, about 160
years, two continents, and myriad cultural upheavals and human
lives. But Jennifer Lin's Shanghai Faithful would not glow as it
does unless it were so well told. . . . Shanghai Faithful lives,
with people you care about, consequences that hurt, real tension
and relief. . . . To paraphrase Desmond Tutu, there is no future
without forgiveness. Note that word in the subtitle of this grand
book, a word that reminds us, on a huge scale, of what faith can do
for people and what people will do for faith.
*The Philadelphia Inquirer*
[Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Forgiveness in a Chinese Christian
Family] is a compelling narrative covering five generations of the
Lin family in China.
*CatholicPhilly.com*
Lin’s book helps explain what shaped the mentality of Chinese
Christians.... Anyone interested in modern Chinese (Christian)
history, society, and culture and seeks to grasp what shaped the
Chinese mentality in general must read this family odyssey. For
Lin, her family lineage and her 'distance' from China, makes her
the ideal author to present a precise and valuable addition to the
study of Chinese Christian theology in twentieth century.
*Reading Religion*
A superb book, one that could well serve as an introduction to
modern Chinese history and to the history of Protestantism in
China.... Jennifer Lin [has] done extremely careful and painstaking
research in archives, general reading, and oral interviews over
several decades.... [She] is a marvelous storyteller! Without
making anything up—all the conversations and even the inner
thoughts of the characters come from written records and eyewitness
accounts—she has given us an account that is rich, nuanced,
complex, realistic, compelling, and very inspiring.
*Global China Center*
If you are at all interested in the historical development of the
church in China, this book is a must-read.
*ChinaSource*
Jennifer Lin, in her moving family history, Shanghai Faithful, uses
the experiences of her grandfather, Rev Lin Pu-chi, to recount the
extraordinary route Christianity took over five generations, from
remote missionary churches in the 19th century to cosmopolitan
Shanghai in the 1930s and right up to and past the Cultural
Revolution. There are stories of oppression and courage, but also a
rueful sense of opportunities lost, of a liberal and humane
community persecuted and ultimately exiled for their beliefs.
*Irish Times*
As someone who knew little to nothing about Chinese history, I
found Shanghai Faithful to be extremely comprehensible with
beautiful imagery. The author creates a family timeline that
connects perfectly with the historical background.... Shanghai
Faithful is both an educational and invigorating read.... [I]t’s an
impressive compilation of one family’s stories, which represent the
struggles faced by thousands of Christian families in China.
*WPSU's BookMark*
Only an experienced and dogged journalist like Jennifer could
possibly investigate and write such a thoroughly gripping
historical personal narrative. I was with her every step of
the way—not just because my parents were born in the Shanghai area
but because I shared with her so very much. You must join her
for this worthwhile journey!
*Connie Chung, television journalist*
Through her own family history, Jennifer Lin has authored a
beautifully written elegy to that generation of foreign-educated,
humanist, and often Christian Chinese who had begun to form a
cosmopolitan class in China that was comfortable on both sides of
the East/West divide and might have successfully led China from its
cultural traditionalism into modernity. Instead, this class was
savagely persecuted and then erased by Mao and his revolution, thus
creating tens of thousands of family stories as heartrendingly
tragic as this one. At the same time, China was denied a whole
generation of its best-educated and most able professionals,
teachers, scientists, businessmen, artists, and leaders, creating a
national tragedy of such titanic proportions that the country has
still not recovered from it.
*Orville Schell, director, Center on US-China Relations, Asia
Society*
This masterful biography is a loving and skillfully
written portrait of the Lin family, spanning five
generations. The author also provides an authentic survey
of the historical events that overtook the family members
during these decades. I recommend this book highly for both the
novice and the ‘old China hand.’
*Daniel Bays, professor emeritus, Calvin College, and author of A
New History of Christianity in China*
Jennifer Lin has written a dramatic, wide-ranging history of modern
China, focusing on the lives of her grandfather and his
brother-in-law, Watchman Nee, to explain how Western Christianity
became a Chinese religion. Her riveting account of their trials and
tribulations offers an illuminating perspective on China’s ongoing
struggle to create a new national and cultural identity. Scholars
as well as general readers interested in religion, politics, and
the history of China's relations with the United States will find
Lin's story full of valuable insights.
*Terry Lautz, Harvard-Yenching Institute, and author of John Birch:
A Life*
In revealing the truth of how her family helped spread Christianity
in China, Jennifer Lin weaves a captivating, poignant story about
the nature and power of belief. This epic study shows the high
price that can be paid by those who insist on holding fast to faith
and family at a time when everything is at risk.
*Jeff Gammage, author of China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to
America, My Passage to Fatherhood*
This engrossing book offers rich insights on faith and loyalty in a
Christian family in Shanghai. Jennifer Lin's compelling narrative,
often immensely emotional, will be of great interest for anyone who
wishes to know about the everyday struggles of Chinese Christians
as they endured persecution and suffering during the most hostile
years of Mao's rule.
*Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, Pace University*
Capturing the epic sweep of a turbulent Chinese century through a
personal lens, Jennifer Lin tells a poignant, riveting, and deeply
researched tale of her family's journey of faith, from the
nineteenth-century Chinese villager who first encountered Western
missionaries to the twentieth-century Christian leaders—one working
within the system and one pushing for something new. Persecuted
under Communist rule, each left a mark still felt in China today,
where ever more people seek something to believe in.
*Mary Kay Magistad, creator and host of "Whose Century Is It?"
podcast, former NPR and PRI China correspondent*
Shanghai Faithful is an extraordinary book based on thorough
research and an intensely personal quest for understanding.
Jennifer Lin’s family history is vividly told and packed with
insights. It provides a unique window into the complicated and
often painful history of Protestant Christianity in modern China.
Her account traces the Chinese Christian experience across five
generations, from early missionary encounters through the
nationalist currents of the 1920s and the attacks on Christianity
during the Maoist decades. It centers around the figures of her
grandparents, the Anglican minister Lin Pu-chi and his wife Ni
Guizhen, the sister of the influential Chinese indigenous church
leader Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng). I have learned much from reading
this gripping and deeply moving book.
*Ryan Dunch, University of Alberta*
Jennifer Lin’s Shanghai Faithful is an extraordinary story about a
family in a rapidly changing world. Its wide-ranging narrative
links family members on two continents and covers more than a
century of tumultuous change. Lin’s research is meticulous and
combines archival precision, sophisticated historiographical
framing, and memorable storytelling. I will surely be assigning
Shanghai Faithful in my own teaching, because its story brings to
life a remarkable era in Chinese, American, and global history.
*Robert André LaFleur, Beloit College*
One of the most impressive books I've read in a long time.
[Jennifer Lin] is an incredible writer. . . . I couldn't put it
down!
*Hank Hanegraaff, the Bible Answer Man*
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