Shanghai Faithful

This deeply researched, vividly written history by a veteran journalist puts her investigative skills to work uncovering her family's hidden past. Her multigenerational saga is also a microcosm of China's turbulent, transformative history from imperialism, nationalism, and communism, through to its present role as an economic superpower, captured from the unique perspective of a Chinese Christian family. When, in 1979, Jennifer Lin accompanied her father back to China for the first time in thirty years, it was like stepping into the last page of a mystery without having read any of the book. Her relatives were thrilled to be reunited with their long-lost family, but too stoic and often too frightened to stir up stories from a painful, politically dangerous past. Jennifer, however, was determined to find out what had gone before-and in the course of a career that afforded her a deep engagement with China and equipped her with the skills and doggedness to unearth even the most carefully buried truths-she has pieced together an extraordinary tale.
Moreover, she discovered that the saga of her family is, she writes, "the very story of China, one that captures the collision of religion and politics that began more than a century ago and continues to this day."