Christianity and Public Life in China: A Conversation with Yang Visiting Scholar Xi Lian

A leading scholar of modern Chinese Christianity, Xi Lian is one of this year’s two Yang Visiting Scholars in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School (HDS). He is the David C. Steinmetz Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School and the author of The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907–1932 (Penn State University Press, 1997), Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (Yale University Press, 2010), and Blood Letters: The Untold Story of Lin Zhao, a Martyr in Mao’s China (Basic Books, 2018).

Lian’s research is currently focused on the role of Christianity in public life in post-Mao China. At HDS, Lian taught the course, “Christianity and Modern China.” We sat down with Lian to discuss his research, teaching, and the opportunities offered during his past year at HDS.

What drew you to the Yang Scholars program here at HDS?

This year I have my one-semester sabbatical leave. The Yang Visiting Scholar opportunity allows me to have an entire year away from my teaching and other responsibilities at Duke, giving me a big chunk of time to work on my project. It also offers me the opportunity for enriching conversations with other scholars of World Christianity here at HDS.

Tell us more about the course that you're teaching this semester.

The course is related to my current research, although I'm not drawing particularly on the course readings for my research. “Christianity and Modern China” focuses on the connections between Christianity and Chinese modernity, a broad topic that I care about. I’ve really enjoyed the conversation I’ve had with students on the topic.

What do you hope students will take away from the course?

As a historian, there are things I hope students take away at the very basic level—in terms of how we approach our inquiry in the historical discipline. I also like my students to appreciate the deep connections between religion and modernity, and in this case, particularly in China. This is especially true because in modern China, Christianity has played an outsized role in social, cultural, and political developments.

Shifting to your research, what are your main areas of focus as a scholar?

I have done research on both missionary Christianity and homegrown Christianity at the grassroots level. One of my most recent projects was about a Christian dissident in Mao's China who was a poet and a journalist, and my current project has to do with the rise of what I call “public Christianity” in the last four decades. This is a new phenomenon, both for the history of Chinese Christianity and for contemporary China as a whole. Christianity in China used to be very much an underground and privatized affair because the state is atheist and has repressed religion.

There was no space for Christianity, or any other religion, to enter the public space with its own voice and values. Starting in the 1980s, there has been an explosive growth of Christianity, sometimes referred to as “Christianity fever.” Related to that growth is the new historical phenomenon of Christianity entering into public life in China, bringing its values and ideas to fill a void left by the demise of Marxism as an ideology for the people.  

How has your research evolved based on the resources you found at HDS?

HDS, and Harvard more broadly, have tremendous resources. I'm very happy to be able to utilize the collections at HDS Library and other libraries here, especially the Harvard-Yenching Library with its extraordinary holdings on China. I'm very pleased with the easy access to these resources.

In terms of how my ideas may have developed, it’s difficult to say without some distance from the current work. When I look back on this project sometime in the future, I may have a better perspective, but so far my time here has involved a continuing expansion of my project. While the research questions have not drastically changed since I came here, I have benefited tremendously from the easy access to resources and this big chunk of time that I've had.

Another thing that's been helpful to me is the conversations with other Yang scholars. Professor David Hempton has been very thoughtful in organizing informal gatherings of the Yang Scholars, both from this year and from previous years.  

In addition to Professors Francis Clooney, David Hempton, and Raúl Zegarra—whose work addresses various aspects of World Christianity—we also have my Yang scholar colleague this year Ludovic Lado, who is working on a project on Cameroon and Africa more broadly. We are also joined by Yang scholars from previous years, including Chandra Mallampalli, who works on India, and Gina Zurlo, a leading scholar collecting data on Christianity around the world.

We have specialists on Latin America, Africa, and South Asia. It is a wonderful opportunity to have these conversations, and we tend to discover, in the midst of our conversations, common themes in spite of the different regional focuses that we have. It's fascinating to hear what other scholars are doing, and I see real potential here for this conversation to keep growing.  

What advice do you have for future Yang scholars?

I'm sure they don't need my advice, but they will find themselves, like me, in a wonderful situation and able to take advantage of the intellectual resources here at HDS, at the Center for the Study of World Religions, and then more broadly across the Harvard campus. I’ve even attended seminars at Harvard Law School that relate to my research.

I hope future scholars will also take advantage of community events like seminars and public addresses in addition to the library collections. It’s not only a residential fellowship, but also an opportunity to have these conversations with other scholars and to teach students who are curious and deeply engaged.

Banner photo by Alex Bayer