This edited volume starts from the perspectives of Beijing in how it sees that religion should serve the interests of the state. From China's viewpoint, religion should act as a stabilizing force of society, or else the Christian Churches will lose their reason for existence. This might be incomprehensible to Western Christians, who believe in the freedom of religion and their right to embrace their faith. This collection of articles represents the concerted efforts of Chinese, Italians, and an Americanwho live in China, Europe, and the United States and belong to different disciplines, such as History, Religious Studies, and Language Studiesto promote a better understanding of the Catholic Church in the world and in China.

Written by scholars from Italy, the U.S., China mainland, and Hong Kong Provides various perspectives and covering the Chinese Church in the contemporary period Considers the Church on the different levels--the diplomatic, the governmental, the communal, and the individual

Autorentext

Cindy Yik-yi Chu is Professor of History at Hong Kong Baptist University and Editor of the Christianity in Modern China Series of Palgrave Macmillan. She writes on the Catholic Church and the Catholic sisters in China and Hong Kong. Her recent work is edited with Paul P. Mariani, People, Communities, and the Catholic Church in China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). .

Inhalt
PART I: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.- The Catholic Church in China in the 1980s: Identity, Loyalty, and Obedience.- The Canossian Sisters in Hong Kong and Beyond: Protection, Education, and Emancipation of Women.- PART II: THE BIBLE.- Reading and Praying with Sigao Shengjing (Studium Biblicum Version).- The Use and Reception of Sigao Shengjing (Studium Biblicum Version) by Catholic Communities in China.- PART III: EVANGELIZATION.- Catholic Fishermen in the Qingpu District of Shanghai.- Between Survival and Subordination: Jiangnan Catholics in the 1950s.- A Letter From an ex-Altar Boy to Late Fathers.