Shanghai Faithful

by Jennifer Lin

  60 Only three students competed: The winning speech of Lin Yutang and a description of the oratory contest were published in the St. John’s Echo in January 1916.

  62 the fifth anniversary: November 1916 issue of the St. John’s Echo and the North China Herald, October 14, 1916, 84–85.

  64 Watching the students waving from the deck: Lin Pu-chi, “The Departure of Chinese Students for America,” St. John’s Echo, September 1916, 22–23.

  Chapter 5: A Modern Man

  For capturing the world of Chinese students abroad, I relied on coverage in Chinese Students’ Monthly (CSM), December 1918–June 1920.

  67 Heavy smoke poured: A description of ship life on the SS Nanking came from three sources: Stacey Bieler, “Patriots” or “Traitors”: A History of American-Educated Chinese Students (Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 2004); Xu Zhimo, “To My Family and Friends upon My Departure for the U.S. on August 14, 7th Year of the Republic,” in The Complete Works of Xu Zhimo, ed. Jiang Fucong and Liang Shiqiu (Taipei: Zhuanji Wenxue Chubanshe, 1969), 6:99–102; and Ezra Caryl and Grace Brownell letters, September and October 1918 (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan).

  67 veritable ship of scholars: Cross-reference of the ship manifest and Who’s Who of the Chinese Students in America (Berkeley, CA: Lederer, Street & Zeus, 1921).

  69 he began to write a story: Lin Pu-chi, “The Comedy of Ignorance,” Chinese Students’ Monthly, June 1919, 488–94.

  70 Lin Pu-chi caught the Pacific Limited: All information in this chapter on train lines and timetables was provided by the National Railway Historical Society.

  71 In late August a deadly influenza virus: Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, s.v. “Influenza (‘Spanish Flu’ Pandemic, 1918–19,” by Thomas Wirth, http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/influenza-spanish-flu-pandemic-1918-19/; 1918 Influenza Epidemic Records, http://www.phmc.pa.gov/Archives/Research-Online/Pages/1918-Influenza-Epidemic; Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, September 18–November 11, 1918.

  72 Lin Pu-chi officially became a student: Records of the Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, held at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA.

  73 At the Friday night gathering: Issues of Chinese Students’ Monthly magazine, 1918–1920, provided information on activities at the University of Pennsylvania as well as the national alliance.

  74 It was a precarious time: Lin Pu-chi expressed his views on the political situation in China in “A Dissertation on Modern Changes,” St. John’s Echo, October 1916, 19–23, and in his short story, “The Comedy of Ignorance.”

  76 Troy was a small enough city: Coverage of the conference was included in Chinese Students’ Monthly, November 1919. Daily reporting on the event was also provided by the Troy Times, September 6–15, 1919.

  Chapter 6: Second Daughter

  Interviews: Martha Sun, Paul, James, and Tim Lin.

  81 Even with her door shut: Lin Heping acknowledged the possibility of missing the wedding of her daughter Ni Guizhen in her testimonial, An Object of Grace and Love, written in 1943 and translated by Hilda Holms with additional revisions by Martha Sun.

  82 Lin Heping was not born into a high station: Lin Heping, An Object of Grace and Love.

  82 Lin Heping left for Shanghai: Information on the McTyeire School was found in the following: McTyeirian Yearbook, 1917; McTyeire High School catalogue, 1917; Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, Annual Report, 1920, 259–62; and Heidi A. Ross, “‘Cradle of Female Talent’: The McTyeire Home and School for Girls, 1892–1937,” in Christianity in China: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Daniel H. Bays (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996), 209–27.

  82 no girls with bound feet: Julia Bonafield’s letter on the practice of foot binding appeared in the Chinese Recorder, vol. 25 (Shanghai: Presbyterian Mission Press, 1894), 497.

  82 The physician Xu Jinhong: Ryan Dunch, Fuzhou Protestants and the Making of Modern China, 1857–1927 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001), 45–46.

  85 The visitor’s name was Yu Cidu: Silas Wu, Dora Yu and Christian Revival in 20th Century China (Boston: Pishon River, 2002), 171–80.

  86 The ranks of Chinese Protestants: Daniel Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 94.

  87 The experience left the seventeen-year-old tormented: Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story Behind Watchman Nee, rev. ed. (Eastbourne, England: Kingsway, 2005), 47–55.

  Chapter 7: Running Dog

  To understand the anti-Christian and antiforeign movement in Fuzhou and China, I consulted Jonathan Tien-en Chao, “The Chinese Indigenous Church Movement, 1919–1927: A Protestant Response to the Anti-Christian Movements in Modern China” (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1986); Ryan Dunch, Fuzhou Protestants and the Making of Modern China 1857–1927 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001); Xi Lian, Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010); and “The Anti-Christian Movement” (pamphlet, Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations of China, Shanghai, 1925).

  91 The procession was about to begin: A. W. R. Norton, “Impressions of the Laying of the Foundation Stone of the Cathedral,” Fukien Diocesan Magazine, 1924, 7–9.

  92 Even among Chinese Christians: Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story Behind Watchman Nee, rev. ed. (Eastbourne, England: Kingsway, 2005), 110–23.

  94 His barbed opinions: “The Chinese Christian Answers the Missionaries’ Questions,” Chinese Recorder, January 1927, 23–27.

  94 Another time, he challenged: Lin Pu-chi, letter to the editor, Chinese Recorder, June 1924, 407–9.

  94 In Fuzhou, as many as ten thousand: US Consul Ernest Price, report, September 13, 1925.

  95 On August 30, 1925: Lin Pu-chi, letter to Rev. W. P. W. Williams, August 30, 1925; W. P. W. Williams, letters to CMS, September 4 and November 26, 1925.

  96 The Northern Expedition, as it was known, faced little resistance: Accounts of the situation in Fuzhou were taken from US Consul Ernest Price, “Political Conditions, Fukien Province, China, January 1926” (annual report, 1926); Foochow Messenger, January 1927, 16–21; Missionary Herald (Boston), March 1927, 100–105; and Bishop John Hind, letters to CMS, January 7 and 11, 1927.

  98 What they saw: A reconstruction of the orphanage attack was based on: US Consul Ernest Price, letter to Americans in Fuzhou, Jan. 15, 1927; report to legation, January/February 1927; “Foochow Mob Outrages,” North China Daily News, January 26, 1927; Alice and Neil Lewis, letter, September 5, 1927; Bishop Hind, letter to CMS, January 18 and 21, 1927; John Gowdy, letter to Eric North, Fukien Christian University, Board of Trustees, January 21, 1927; “What Happened at Foochow,” Chinese Recorder, April 1927, 288–90; and Foochow Consul G. S. Moss, letter to Sir Austen Chamberlain, political report for March quarter, 1927.

  98 It was a conical stone structure: W. S. Pakenham-Walsh, in Twenty Years in China (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1935), describes a baby tower in Fuzhou, infanticide, and the Roman Catholic orphanage, 95–97. Also see W. Somerset Maugham, On a Chinese Screen (London: Heinemann, 1922), 166–70.

  99 The following Sunday: In a letter dated January 17, 1927, and reprinted in the Missionary Herald in April 1927, Betty Cushman described the attack and her guests, Lin Pu-chi and his wife. A description of events that day was also reported by the US Consul Ernest B. Price in his report for January/February 1927.

  102 Its American president: John Gowdy, letters to Trustees of Fukien Christian University, December 23 and 29, 1926.

  102 At the start of 1927: Roderick Scott, “A Great Minority Victory—Overturnings in China,” Christian Education, Nov. 1927, 136–44; Fukien Christian University, “News Sheet for Alumni and Friends,” Dec. 1, 1927.

  103 Lin Pu-chi still enjoyed: In a letter to his me
ntor W. S. Pakenham-Walsh, Lin Pu-chi recounted the episode, his reaction, and praying to St. Stephen. Pakenham-Walsh described the attack in his memoir, Twenty Years in China, 118–25. Lin Pu-chi also was quoted in the Church Missionary Outlook, November 1928, describing his internal thoughts: “I just prayed for myself that I might be brave, and for them that their eyes might be opened.”

  To re-create the scene, I relied on other accounts of the incident, including John Go1y, letter to FCU trustees, March 30, 1927; Bishop John Hind, annual letter to CMS, 1927–1928; Ida Belle Lewis Main, unpublished memoir; Chinese Recorder, May–June 1927, 390; British Consul, Foochow, April 6, 1927; Church Missionary Outlook, Rev. E. M. Norton, “Making Men: The Work of a Christian School in China,” November 1928, 225–27; and Reuters, “Communist Fury at Foochow,” North China Daily News, March 28, 1927.

  Chapter 8: Alma Mater

  Interviews: Martha Sun, James Lin.

  For the history of Trinity College Fuzhou, I consulted R. M. Gwynn, E. M. Norton, and B. W. Simpson, “T.C.D.” in China: A History of the Dublin University Fukien Mission 1885–1935 (Dublin: Church of Ireland, 1936); Y. Y. Huang, While Drinking Water Remember Its Source: A History of Trinity College, Foochow and Anglican High School (Singapore: Singapore Malaya, 1971); and W. S. Pakenham-Walsh, Twenty Years in China (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1935).

  107 The clock on the dormitory wall: Hind described the fire, the presumption of foul play, and the impact on the mission in a January 4, 1928, letter to Joseph G. Barclay, general secretary of East Asia for the Church Missionary Society in London.

  108 Bishop Hind suspected: Bishop Hind’s diocesan bulletins, November 21 and December 6, 1927; Rev. E. M. Norton, “The Present Situation in the Christian Schools of Foochow,” Fukien Diocesan Magazine, January 1928, 9–12.

  108 But internally, the school struggled: Bishop Hind, letter to CMS general secretary Barclay, May 9, 1927.

  109 Before the fall term started: Bishop Hind’s letter to members of the diocese, November 28, 1927.

  109 After the meeting: The date of the delivery of the registration letter was mentioned in Gwynn et al., “T.C.D” in China, 64.

  110 Every day at 11:30 a.m.: Report of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui Fukien Church Day Schools, 1928, 8–9.

  111 He respectfully declined: Rev. E. M. Norton refers to “canonical obedience” in Church Missionary Society Annual Report 1929–30, Fukien Mission, 371–72.

  112 Not everyone in the Trinity community: Norton, Annual Report, 372; Gwynn et al., “T.C.D” in China, 64–65.

  113 One by one, teachers in the Middle School: Norton, Annual Report, 372.

  113 One night in May: Additional descriptions of this episode were found in Rev. W. P. W. Williams, “Standing Committee Meeting, Fukien Diocesan Synod, Review of the Year July 1928–1929”; and Fujian CPPCC Cultural and Historical Records Committee, ed., A Selection of Cultural and Historical Records, Vol. 5, Christianity and Catholicism (Fuzhou: Fujian People’s Publishing House, 2003).

  115 They acted decisively: Lin Pu-chi, letter to Joseph G. Barclay, Church Missionary Society, London, April 25, 1930. Includes “Report of Trinity College for the First Half of 1929.”

  115 “Things went on without a hitch”: “Report of Trinity College for the Second Half of 1929.”

  116 In his article for the missionary magazine: Lin Pu-chi, “Four Cardinal Principles for the Development of the Chinese Church,” Chinese Recorder, June 1924, 353–60, and July 1924, 445–50. (Note: His name is misspelled as Liu Pu-chi.)

  116 in his first three terms: Lin Pu-chi, letter to Joseph G. Barclay, Church Missionary Society, November 13, 1930.

  116 In the spring of 1930: Lin Pu-chi, letter to Joseph G. Barclay, November 13, 1930.

  118 Lin Pu-chi told the bishop that he would seek new work: Bishop Hind, letter to Joseph G. Barclay, Church Missionary Society, January 2, 1931.

  Chapter 9: Watchman Nee

  Interviews: Martha Sun, James, Tim, and Paul Lin.

  121 The rector rushed from room to room: St. Peter’s Monthly, March–October, 1932.

  122 At 11:10 p.m.: North China Daily News, January 29, 1932. Also see Stella Dong, Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City (New York: HarperCollins, 2000), 213–17.

  122 When he arrived on March 5: St. Peter’s Monthly, March 1932. Also see American Church Mission, District of Shanghai Newsletter, March 1932, 3–12.

  124 like few other churches in China: Lin Pu-chi, “A History of St. Peter’s Parish,” in 20th Anniversary Volume St. Peter’s Church, September 1933, 3–12. Also see Philip L. Wickeri, Reconstructing Christianity in China: K. H. Ting and the Chinese Church (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis), 24–25.

  124 The previous rector: Duan Qi, “Christianity and Chinese Nationalism: St. Peter’s Church in Shanghai during the War against Japan” (paper presented at a conference sponsored by the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Hong Kong, June 7–9, 2012).

  124 Lin Pu-chi’s indignation: Description of Haskell Road in Larry Fein, “Shanghai Roots: A City of ‘Gones’ 49 Years Later,” Chicago Tribune, November 9, 1986.

  125 It was October 9: Lin Pu-chi, “National Day in the National Disaster,” St. Peter’s Monthly, October 1932, 1–2. Also see Duan, “Christianity and Chinese Nationalism.”

  126 The Lin family had joined: All About Shanghai and Environs (Shanghai: University Press, 1934–1935), 33–34.

  126 The Public School for Chinese Boys was: Shanghai Municipal Council, Report and Budget, years 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940.

  128 Watchman Nee once complained: Watchman Nee, letter to Norman Baker of the China Inland Mission, September 19, 1938 (private collection of Angus Kinnear).

  128 In 1933, Watchman Nee: Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story Behind Watchman Nee, rev. ed. (Eastbourne, England: Kings-way, 2005), 146–52.

  129 Watchman Nee once regaled the family: Kinnear, Against the Tide, 162–67.

  129 the population of Shanghai: American Church Mission, District of Shanghai Newsletter, January 7, 1934, 2–3.

  131 Outsiders called their group: Kinnear, Against the Tide, 140–41.

  132 On Sunday morning: Kinnear, Against the Tide, 200–201.

  133 The Bible, he told them: Watchman Nee, Normal Christian Faith (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1994), 27–28.

  134 This was more than a family squabble: Report of the Ninth Meeting of the General Synod of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui, April 17–25, 1937, 31.

  135 The US Navy: “Rising Storm—The Imperial Japanese Navy and China 1931–1941,” Imperial Japanese Navy Page, accessed March 24, 2016, http://www.combinedfleet.com/Chefoo.

  Chapter 10: Island of Shanghai

  137 As her teenage sons looked on: James Lin, letter to Paul Lin, April 8, 2011.

  137 helping the refugees who had flooded Shanghai: Lin Pu-chi, “Christmas This Year,” Chinese Churchman 30, no. 20 (1937).

  138 To the rest of China: Christian Henriot, “Shanghai and the Experience of War: The Fate of Refugees,” European Journal of East Asian Studies 5, no. 2 (2006): 220–21.

  138 Any Chinese resident: Stella Dong, Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City (New York: HarperCollins, 2000), 257.

  138 During the three-month Battle: Frederic Wakeman Jr., The Shanghai Badlands: Wartime Terrorism and Urban Crime, 1937–1941 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 6.

  139 Before dawn: Shanghai Municipal Council, Report for the Year 1941 and Budget for the Year 1942 (Shanghai: North-China Daily News & Herald, 1941), 49.

  139 It galled students: Mary Lamberton, St. John’s University, 1879–1951 (New York: United Board for Christian Colleges in China, 1955), 184.

  140 The American physician: Helen McCracken Fulcher, Mission to Shanghai: The Life of Medical Service of Dr. Josiah C. McCracken (New London, NH: Tiffin, 1995), 197.

/>   141 The summons that foreigners: Donald Roberts, “Our Pootong Camp Experience,” Archives of the Episcopal Church, December 10, 1943.

  142 This presented a crisis for Lin Pu-chi: The circumstances of Lin Pu-chi’s employment at the China Biological and Chemical Laboratories from 1944 through 1945 were included in a statement by him on April 12, 1969.

  142 Ni Guizhen had a younger brother: Interviews with Martha Sun, James Lin, and Paul Lin.

  142 When Watchman Nee became involved: Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story Behind Watchman Nee, rev. ed. (Eastbourne, En-gland: Kingsway, 2005), 211–21.

  144 “I envy you”: Kinnear, Against the Tide, 214.

  145 In one of his first articles: Lin Pu-chi, “Pleading for Church Preachers,” Chinese Churchman 35, no. 5 (1946): 3–4.

  146 St. John’s medical school had a sterling reputation: Kaiyi Chen, Seeds from the West: St. John’s Medical School, Shanghai, 1880–1952 (Chicago: Imprint, 2001), 57–75.

  147 By 1947: Events are based on Kinnear, Against the Tide, 220–36; James Chen, Meet Brother Nee (Kowloon, Hong Kong: Christian, 1976), 56–68; and Witness Lee, Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1997), 316–21.

  148 He compared his foray: Chen, Meet Brother Nee, 64.

  148 a large property: Lee, Watchman Nee, 318.

  149 “Brother,” Watchman Nee explained: Lee, Watchman Nee, 320.

  Chapter 11: Bund to Boardwalk

  Interviews: Paul and James Lin.

  A description of the scene at St. John’s University on the eve of the Communist victory was gleaned from the letters of Frances and Donald Roberts, who both worked at the university, to their children in the United States, which are held at the Yale Divinity School missionary archives. The letters were written in 1949 and dated May 15 and 20; June 2, 4, 6, and 10; and July 17 and 18.

  Chapter 12: American Wolves

  Interviews: Martha Sun, Paul and James Lin.