Shanghai Faithful

Jennifer Lin is an award-winning journalist and former reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. In a distinguished thirty-year career, she served as the paper’s New York financial correspondent, Washington foreign affairs reporter, and Asia bureau chief, based in China.

• List of CharactersNote on Spellings and ReportingIntroductionPrologue: Shanghai, 1956Part I. Foreign Ghosts1 Cook: Fujian Province, Mid-1800s 2 Doctor: Fujian Province, 1890 3 Firstborn: Fuzhou, 1907 Part II. Patriots4 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 Divided9 Watchman Nee: Shanghai, 1932 10 Island of Shanghai: Shanghai, 1937 11 Bund to Boardwalk: Shanghai, 1949 Part IV. New Order12 American Wolves: Shanghai, 1950 13 Missing: Shanghai, 1955 14 Prelude: Shanghai, 1957 Part V. Bad Elements15 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. Revival21 Faith: Fuzhou, 2015 EpilogueAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliography

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.