Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Forgiveness in a Chinese Christian Family with Jennifer Lin

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After the United States and China established diplomatic relations in 1979, those who had left China around 1949 were able to visit family members who had remained in China. Three decades of separation gave rise to many unanswered questions on both sides. One such question inspired young journalist Jennifer Lin: “Do you have any idea what happened to us?” she was asked at a family reunion in Shanghai in 1979. She then embarked on a 30-year quest to uncover her family history. The daughter of a Chinese father and a Catholic, Italian-American mother, Ms. Lin explored her family’s Anglican past in Shanghai, and its experiences as Chinese Christians under communist rule. The resulting book, Shanghai Faithful: Betrayal and Forgiveness in a Chinese Christian Family, is an account of China’s chaotic modern history through the eyes of a single family whose western education, charismatic leadership, and Christian faith made it targets during the Cultural Revolution. Ms. Lin joined the National Committee on January 24, 2018, for a discussion of her book, her family, and the recent history of Christianity in China.

Bio:

Jennifer Lin is an award-winning journalist and former reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer; she served as the paper’s New York financial correspondent, Washington foreign affairs reporter, and Asia bureau chief in Beijing.

At The Inquirer, Ms. Lin covered a variety of topics for the news and business desks – everything from the original debate over NAFTA to an investigation of the public housing authority in Philadelphia. After 9/11, she spent a year tracking the impact of the World Trade Center tragedy on one Bucks County community, winning several statewide awards. The Asian American Journalists Association presented her a national award in 2002 for a magazine piece about the murder of a Korean grocer in West Philadelphia.

Shanghai Faithful is Ms. Lin’s second book; she also co-authored Sole Sisters: Stories of Women and Running with Susan Warner. She is currently working on a documentary about the flourishing of classical music in China through the unique history and ongoing engagement of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Ms. Lin is a graduate of Duquesne University and a former Jefferson Fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaii.