A Christian Conversion in Republican China

Abstract The first chapter offers a brief history of Christianity in China as well as the background of the Nee family and its own long history of Christian adherence and practice. By the time of Nee’s birth, the family was nominally Christian, but more interested in secular politics and entertainment. A traveling preacher named Dora Yu caused Nee’s mother, Lin Heping, to undergo a dramatic conversion. Her conversion sparked Nee’s reconsideration of Christianity and provoked his soul-searching about his future in political writing. This set a fundamental understanding for Nee of the relationship between religion and politics. For the rest of his life, he would continue to try to separate the two as much as possible. The absoluteness of Nee’s conversion paralleled the youth culture in contemporary China. His emotional, evangelical conversion and deep familiarity with Christian themes followed patterns of generational Christianization observed in other non-Western settings.