In March of 2012, I travelled with Noel Piper in Sichuan province on a research trip. On the second Sunday of our journey, we found ourselves in the Protestant Church in Huili, Sichuan. Even though the church is in the heart of a city, most of the parishioners were peasants from the countryside, many of them…
Christianity
Religious Faith in China
As readers of this blog will know, I’m always on the lookout for a new book that will find its place onto my current “must read” list. And while I have yet to actually read Evan Osnos’ new book “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China” (it was released just yesterday…
Getting Better or Getting Worse?
Those of us who work in China are often asked if we think that the situation for the church in China is getting better or worse. I have always found that to be a problematic question. First of all, “better” and “worse” are relative terms, so the first response has to be “better or worse…
Literary Journey – the 2000’s
Here are the key books I read in the first decade of the 21st century: Turning Bricks into Jade, by Margaret Wang. This book is a collection of 'critical incidents' of misunderstanding between Chinese and Americans. Perfect for use in a cross-cultural orientation program, it presents the miscommunications, followed by a detailed analysis/explanation of the…