Abstract
Through a case study of the Presbyterian Peng lineage, Hu highlights the frequent crossover of new and old identities among rural Christians in the Hakka-speaking hinterlands of modern Chaoshan. When the Peng descendants compiled their genealogy in the 2000s, they appropriated the Christian ancestors and their conversion narratives as powerful symbols that connected different generations of the lineage members. In this process of cross-cultural fertilization, Christianity means more than an individual faith. It actually becomes a collective identity of the Peng lineage. As long as this religious identification stands the test of the time, it provides a fertile ingredient to build an imagined ancestral homeland for all the Christian descendants of the Peng lineage.
(Translated by Joseph Tse-Hei Lee )
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- 1.
Entry on May 3–4, 1882, Zhanglao dahui jishice [Minutes of the Chaohui Synod], Republican Source Materials, Call No. C282, Shantou Municipal Archives, Shantou, China.
- 2.
Entry on March 28–29, 1888, Zhanglao dahui jishice.
- 3.
“Peng Song mushi zhuan [Biography of the Rev. Peng Song].” Republican Archival Materials, Call No. 12-11-16, Shantou Municipal Archives.
- 4.
“Peng Song mushi zhuan.”
- 5.
“Peng Song mushi zhuan.”
- 6.
“Peng Song mushi zhuan.”
- 7.
“Peng Song mushi zhuan.”
- 8.
Entries on May 6–7, 1891, May 3–4, 1893 and June 26, 1894, Zhanglao dahui jishice.
- 9.
Entries on May 1–2, 1895, January 1, 1898, May 4–5, 1898 and October 5–6, 1898, Zhanglao dahui jishice.
- 10.
Entry on May 7–9, 1913, Chaohui Zhanglao Zonghui jishibu [Minutes of the Chaohui Presbyterian Synod], Republican Source Materials, Call No. C287, Shantou Municipal Archives.
- 11.
Entries on April 30–May 4 and May 7–11, 1929, Lingdongdahui Shantou quhui Wujingfu quhui nianlu [Minutes of the Wujingfu Presbytery of the Shantou Region of the Lingdong Synod], Republican Source Materials, Call No. 318; “Wujingfuquhui zhiyuan yilanbiao [List of Presbyterian Church Staff in Wujingfu] (1937),” Republican Archival Materials, Call No. 12-11-26, Shantou Municipal Archives.
- 12.
“Zeng Xizhen zhanglao zhuan [Biography of Elder Zeng Xizhen]” (1949), Republican Archival Materials, Call No. 12-11-16, Shantou Municipal Archives.
- 13.
“Jiexixian renminzhengfu tongzhishu [Notice from the People’s Government of Jiexi District” (December 30, 1991), and “Fanghaowu chanquan zhengmingshu (Huaqiao chanzheng di 00788 hao) [Property Ownership Certificate: Overseas Chinese Certificate No. 00788, December 30, 1991]” (Peng comp. 2010: Appendix).
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Hu, W. (2018). Christianity and the Peng Lineage. In: Lee, JH. (eds) Christianizing South China. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72266-5_8
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