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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2020
The production of the Union Bible was designed to provide Chinese Protestants with a standardised sacred text to better understand and approach the Christian faith in their native language. While believers regard the translated Scripture as a moral compass that gives spiritual references to everyday challenges, the methods of acquiring these references point to individual creativity and improvisation. When the Union Bible was banned from circulation in the public domain during the Maoist period (1949–1976), Chinese church leaders were jailed and reading the Bible was deemed to be subversive, how did ordinary Protestants draw on their reading of the Union Bible to sustain their religious commitment beyond initial conversion? How did they construct a biblically-centered faith against the socialist indoctrination? This study investigates the centrality of the Union Bible among Chinese Seventh-day Adventists in Wenzhou from the 1950s to 1970s. In particular, it explores how two female Adventists enmeshed the Chinese mode of divination with their daily Bible reading for spiritual insights as they confronted personal and congregational crises in the Maoist era. It argues that this indigenous mode of Bible reading sheds light on the ways in which Chinese Adventists asserted and empowered their scriptural-textual authority, interpretive agency, and personal piety against the state's relentless atheistic propaganda.
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2 The term qiuwen in Chinese refers to beg, ask, request, entreat, seek information from, and inquire. See Jingrong, Wu 吴景荣 and Zhenqiu, Cheng 程镇球, (eds.) Xinshidai hanying dacidian 新时代汉英大词典 New Age Chinese – English Dictionary (Beijing, 2004), pp. 1263; 1614Google Scholar.
3 It was possible to access these materials at the municipal archives in Shanghai and Wenzhou throughout the 2000s, but recent archival regulations have restricted public access to these primary sources.
4 Sanneh, Lamin, Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture, revised and expanded version (Maryknoll, 2009)Google Scholar; Jacobsen, Douglas, Global Gospel: An Introduction to Christianity on Five Continents (Grand Rapids, 2015)Google Scholar; Walls, Andrew, Crossing Cultural Frontiers: Studies in the History of World Christianity (Maryknoll, 2017)Google Scholar. For an Adventist case, see Chow, Christie Chui-Shan, “Indigenizing the Prophetess: Toward a Chinese Denominational Practice”, in Clark, Anthony, (ed.) China's Christianity: From Missionary to Indigenous Church (Leiden, 2017), pp. 219-246Google Scholar.
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6 Today's Ruian is a county-level city 22.7 mile from Wenzhou and is administratively managed by the Wenzhou municipal government.
7 Land, Gary, (ed.) Adventist in America: A History, revised edition (Berrien Spring, 1998)Google Scholar; Rowe, David L., God's Strange Work: William Miller and the End of the World (Grand Rapids, 2008)Google Scholar.
8 For the most recent study on Ellen G. White, see Aamodt, Terrie Dopp, Land, Gary, and Numbers, Ronald L., (eds.) Ellen Harmon White: American Prophet (Oxford, 2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 The designation is derived from Revelation 19:10.
10 Numbers, Ronald L., Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White, 3rd edition (Grand Rapids, 2008), pp. 219-238Google Scholar.
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12 Ruth Crocombe, “The Missionaries and the Guomindang: An Exploration of the Seventh-day Adventist Experience in Republic China”, Master's thesis, University of Queensland, 2015.
13 According to Fuk-Tsang Ying, Adventist’ national membership grew from 95 in 1909 to 22,994 by 1950. See “The Regional Development of Protestant Christianity in China: 1919, 1949 and 2004”, China Review 9, no. 2 (2009), pp. 77.Google Scholar.
14 The other five denominations were the Methodist Church (Xundao gonghui 循道公会), China Jesus Independent Church (Zhongguo yesujiao zilihui 中国耶稣教自立会), Independent Church of Christ in Wenzhou (Wenzhou zhonghua jidujiao zilihui 温州中华基督教自立会), and Christian Assembly (Jidutu juhuichu 基督徒聚会处).
15 Zhejiangsheng zongjiaozhi bianjibu 浙江省宗教志编辑部 Editorial Committee of the Zhejiang Gazetteers of Religious Affairs, (ed.) Zhejiangsheng zongjiaozhi ziliao huibian er 浙江省宗教志资料汇编二 Zhejiang Gazetteers of Religious Affairs: Collections of Sources No.2 (Zhejiang, n.d.), pp. 242-244.
16 For a chronological account of Adventists joining the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, see Young, Samuel 杨健生, (ed.) Zhonghua shenggongshi 中华圣工史Chinese Seventh-day Adventist History, Vol. 1 (Hong Kong, 2002), pp. 119-123Google Scholar. For an overview of Adventists’ resistance to the government's co-optation, see Lee, Joseph Tse-Hei, “Co-optation and Its Discontents: Seventh-Day Adventism in 1950s China”, Frontiers of History in China 7, no. 4 (2012), pp. 582-607Google Scholar.
17 The Chen's family history is based on multiple interviews with Chen Dengyong, Chen Yajun, Wu Dishen, and Li Tingqing in the summers of 2010 and 2012; Chen's autobiography: Nimen shi wo de jiangzheng. Women “yingdang zhengming shangdi shi zhen de” 上帝说：你们是我的见证。我们应当证明上帝是真的 God Said, “You Are My Witnesses.” We “Ought to Bear Witness That God Is True, n.d.; A eulogy of Huang Meide written by Chen Yaling, “Meihou de zhang 美好的仗A Good Fight”, Zhejiang, 2010.
18 Interview with Chen Dengyong, August 26, 2012.
19 Interview with Chen Dengyong, August 6, 2012; Young, (ed.) Zhonghua shenggongshi, pp. 303.
20 Shu Chengqian 舒成虔, Wushi nian jiaohui shenghuo huiyi 五十年教会生活回忆 Memoir of Church Life in the Last Fifty Years (internal circulation, 2003), p. 153; interview with Chen Dengyong, August 6, 2012.
21 Zhongguo gongchandang zhejiangsheng wenzhou difang weiyuanhui 中国共产党浙江省温州地方委员会 Local Party Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, “Zhuanshu qiaowuchu, zongjiao shiwuchu guanyu qiaohui, fujing guanli, shenqing chuguo he zongjiao deng wenti de baogao, han专署侨务处、宗教事务处关于侨汇、赴京观礼、申请出国和宗教等问题的报告、函 Reports by the Municipal Departments of Overseas Chinese and Religious Affairs Concerning Remittances, Requests for Visiting Beijing, Applications for Traveling Abroad, and Local Religious Affairs”, Tongzhanbu 统战部 The United Front Archives, 1965, Call No.: 92-11-5, Wenzhou Municipal Archives, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
22 Zhongguo gongchandang zhejiangsheng wenzhou difang weiyuanhui 中国共产党浙江省温州地方委员会 Local Party Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, “Diwei tongzhanbu huizong de youpai zhaijie, renmin daibiao anpai, jiaotang jiaotu deng tongjibiao 地委统战部汇总的右派摘揭、人民代表安排、教堂教徒等统计表 Statistical Materials Collected by the Municipal United Front about Rightists, People's Representatives, and Church Memberships in Wenzhou”, Tongzhanbu 统战部 The United Front Archives, 1953, Call No.: 92-11-5, Wenzhou Municipal Archives, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
23 Interview with Chen Yajun, August 18, 2012; interview with Chen Dengyong, August 6 and 26, 2012.
24 Shu, Wushi nian, pp. 156-157.
25 Shu, Wushi nian, pp. 156-158.
26 Luo Guohua 罗国华, “Ruia̠n chengguan anxirihui jiaohuishi 瑞安城关安息日会教会史 History of Chengguan Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ruia̠n”, Zhejiang, 2010; Chen Dengyong, “Baogao报告A Report,” (a petition to the Ruia̠n municipal religious affairs bureau for economic compensation from 1960 to 1979), Zhejiang, May 30, 2002.
27 Liang Yikun 梁亦琨, “Huiyi wo zai ruian jiaohui de rizi 回忆我在瑞安教会的日子 Remembering my days in the Ruian Church”, in Shu, Wushi nian, p. 163.
28 Shu, Wushi nian, pp. 154-155.
29 Shu, Wushi nian, p. 153.
30 Entries for November 11, 16, 24, 1965. Huang Meide's diary.
31 Entry for November 20, 1964. Huang Meide's diary.
32 Entries for November 1, 1985, November 2, 1986, and November 2, 1986. Huang Meide's diary.
33 Entries for April 28 and July 1, 1981. Huang Meide's diary.
34 Entries for November 25, 1980; April 29 and July 22, 1981; September 18, 1982; September 1 and December 7, 1983; January 15 and April 8, 1985; August 14 and 29, 1986; February 9, 1987; November 15 and December 9, 1990. Huang Meide's diary.
35 Entry for May 20, 1987. Huang Meide's diary.
36 Entries November 25, 1980; April 29 and July 22, 1981; September 18, 1982; September 1 and December 7, 1983; January 15 and April 8, 1985; August 14 and 29, 1986; February 9, 1987; November 15 and December 9, 1990. Huang Meide's diary.
37 Entries December 7, 1983 and March 1, 1989. Huang Meide's diary.
38 Entries June 19 and July 12, 1981. Huang Meide's diary.
39 Entry November 14, 1984. Huang Meide's diary.
40 Entry May 20, 1987. Huang Meide's diary.
41 Interview with Chen Dengyong, August 6, 2012.
42 For argument of Christian root, see Wiśniewski, Robert, “Pagans, Jews, Christians, and a Type of Book Divination in Late Antiquity”, Journal of Early Christian Studies 24, no. 4 (2016), pp. 553-568CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For argument of Jewish origin, see van der Horst, Pieter W., “Ancient Jewish bibliomancy”, Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 1 (2000), pp. 9-17Google Scholar.
43 Ziolkowski, Theodore, “‘Tolle Lege’: Epiphanies of the Book”, Modern Language Review 109, no. 1 (January 2014), pp. 1CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
44 For different modes of using the Bible in China, see Starr, (ed.) Reading Christian Scripture; Jenkins, Philip, The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (Oxford, 2006)Google Scholar.
45 Paul R. Katz has provided one example of this deep history in Demon Hordes and Burning Boats: The Cult of Marshal Wen in Late Imperial Chekiang (Albany, 1995)Google Scholar.
46 For a concise discussion of this practice in North China, see Chau, Adam Yuet, Miraculous Response: Doing Popular Religion in Contemporary China (Stanford, 2006)Google Scholar. See also Field, Stephen L., Ancient Chinese Divination: Dimensions of Asian Spirituality (Honolulu, 2008)Google Scholar.
47 Overmyer, Daniel L., Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Cambridge, MA, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jordan, David K. and Overmyer, Daniel L., The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan (Princeton, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; DeBernardi, Jean, The Way That Lives in the Heart: Chinese Popular Religion and Spirit Mediums in Penang, Malaysia (Stanford, 2006)Google Scholar.
48 “Sermon theme #260” in Chen Dengyong, Five Hundred Sermon Outlines (internal circulation, 2013).
49 “Sermon theme # 246” in Chen, Five Hundred Sermon Outlines.
50 “Sermon theme #325” in Chen, Five Hundred Sermon Outlines.
51 “Sermon theme #341” in Chen, Five Hundred Sermon Outlines.
52 Wollenberg, Rebecca Scharbach, “The Dangers of Reading As We Know It: Sight Reading As a Source of Heresy in Early Rabbinic Traditions”, Journal of American Academy of Religion 85, no. 3 (2017), pp. 709-745CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
53 For a recent study on the malleability of Chinese Christianity, see Wu, Albert, “Forever a Patriot: Chinese Christians and the Repudiation of American Liberal Protestantism”, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 85, no. 1 (2017), pp. 112-135Google Scholar.