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Voted #18 by Premier Radio listeners as part of ‘The 100 Books That Changed the Church’ list curated by Premier Christianity magazine and Eden.
It is one of the great opening chapters in Christian autobiography. Jackie Pullinger, twenty years old and fresh out of the Royal College of Music, buys a one-way ticket on a cargo ship and sets off East with no mission society behind her, no salary, and no clear destination — just a conviction that God had called her to go. She ends up in Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City: a lawless enclave of 50,000 people, controlled by Triads, saturated with heroin addiction, and largely avoided by everyone else.
Chasing the Dragon — recognised by Premier Christianity among the books that have changed the Church — is what happened next. Pullinger began working with addicts and gang members, and started to see them set free from heroin withdrawal with a speed and completeness that she attributes entirely to the power of the Holy Spirit. Her accounts are not triumphalist; she is honest about the slow, grinding nature of much of the work. But the miracles — and she recounts them as simply and matter-of-factly as she recounts the failures — are genuinely extraordinary.
It remains one of the most electric Christian books of the twentieth century.
Want to know more about the full list then read our blog article here.
About the Author: Jackie Pullinger (born 1944) continues to lead St Stephen's Society in Hong Kong, which runs rehabilitation homes for drug addicts and gang members. She has written several follow-up books and speaks internationally, though she rarely leaves the work for long.
