Authored by Jifeng Liu, the new book Negotiating the Christian Past in China: Memory and Missions in Contemporary Xiamen was released by Penn State University Press.
Jifeng Liu, Associate Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University, discusses in this book the tension between the established official narratives of Xiamen’s Christianity history and various efforts seeking to reinterpret the legacy of missionaries, according to the Penn State University Press.
“This volume elucidates the ways in which Christianity has become an integral part of Xiamen, a Chinese city profoundly influenced by Western missionaries. Drawing on extensive interviews, locally produced histories, and observations of historical celebrations, Liu provides an intimate portrait of the people who navigate ideological issues to reconstruct a Christian past, reproduce religious histories, and redefine local power structures in the shadow of the state”, explained the publisher.
According to the book description, the author “makes a compelling argument that a Christian past is being constructed that combines official frameworks, unofficial practices, and nostalgia into social memory, a realm of dynamic negotiation that is neither dominated by the authoritarian state nor characterized by popular resistance. In this way, Negotiating the Christian Past in China illustrates the complexities of memory and missions in shaping the city’s cultural landscape, church-state dynamics, and global aspirations”.
Centering on the construction and reconstruction of Xiamen’s Christian past, the book presents five chapters: “Xiamen History, Society, and Christianity”, “Discursive Reversals on Western Missionaries”, “The Passing of Glory”, “Writing and Contesting Christian History”, and “Global Missions Meet Local Politics”.
Joseph T. H. Lee, Professor of History at Pace University, commented that the book “coalesces granular, deeply researched ethnographic data into a fresh and expansive take on the unique patterns of Church-state engagement and the relationship between social memory and faith identity. This story is local and global, particular and general.”
