Shanghai Faithful

Starred review from February 20, 2017
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.

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 detente 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."An useful, interesting book for students of modern Chinese history and of missionary Christianity. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2017

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.--Brian Renvall, Mesalands Community Coll., Tucumcari, NM

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2017
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 thatdespite the terrible depredations of the Cultural Revolutionwas 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)