The book provides a wide-ranging review of recent works and points to promising directions for future research, especially on contemporary developments among Chinese Protestant women. People interested in world Christianity, modern China, and women’s history will find this book useful.

Reading Religion

Comprehensive and up to date, this fascinating book presents the history of Christian women in Chinese Protestantism during the turbulent period of modern China. Placing gender in changing sociopolitical contexts and ideological divide, Dr. Ma demonstrates her astute social analysis and historical sensitivity. The book makes a significant contribution to Chinese history, World Christianity, gender and religion.

Kwok Pui-lan, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

This is an innovative, important, and altogether fascinating history of Chinese Christian women. Stretching from the period of Western missions through the communist era and up to the current Christian celebrity culture, Ma’s provocative history presses readers to think expansively about the relationship between Christianity, gender, and the modern Chinese nation.

Kristin Du Mez, Calvin University

Li Ma has indeed skillfully presented and recovered a history of women in the context of Chinese Protestantism and modern China.19 Through her writing we discover that the women persevered, truly becoming servants of their country and the church in the best sense of the word.

ChinaSource

MA Li’s book Christian Women and Modern China is an attempt to write women back into the history of Chinese Protestantism. Their lived experiences entailed struggles caused by the power structures within and outside of the church. The struggles Chinese Christian women have encountered, according to the author, are “due to colonialist, nationalistic, and ecclesiastical marginalization.”1 Drawing on the perspectives of Chinese Christian women, this book showcases the interplay of gender, Christianity, and power.... Ma’s book is a contribution to the historiography of Christian women in modern China. It calls attention to women’s underrepresented voices and lived experiences. The book’s rich information outshines the analytical jumps between some sections. The author’s skillful portrayal of Christian women in different periods point to the dynamic encounter of gender and power amidst the nation-building project.

Ching Feng Journal