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"A Chinese Protestant female model in Southeast Asia : the “Confucianizing” of Leona Jingling Wu in 1970s Singapore"
Sim, Joshua Dao Wei
Sim, Joshua Dao Wei
Author(s)
Sim, Joshua Dao Wei
Contributor(s)
Keywords
Wu, Leona
1897-1974
Women
Chinese
identity
Emigration and immigration
Singapore
Social life
customs
Christianity
1897-1974
Women
Chinese
identity
Emigration and immigration
Singapore
Social life
customs
Christianity
GE Subjects
Sexual orientation/gender
Specific religion, Christianity
Asian theologies
Specific religion, Christianity
Asian theologies
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Files
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
This study draws on recent scholarship about Chinese Christian textual traditions to analyze the posthumous biographies of Leona Jingling Wu (1897–1974), the prominent leader of John Sung’s evangelistic bands in Singapore and founder of the island’s first Chinese Protestant higher education institute, Chin Lien Bible Seminary. The essay argues that these biographies “Confucianized” Wu by re-casting her as a Chinese-Christian female spiritual model. First, a survey of literary productions from the pre-1970s demonstrates that Wu was initially portrayed as an evangelical rather than a female Confucian model. Second, the process of “Confucianizing” Wu only becomes apparent in her biographies written in the 1970s. Three strategies were employed to highlight Wu’s Confucian attributes—the re-telling of her Chinese-Christian genealogy, an emphasis on her filial piety before she moved to Singapore, and the re-imagination of her as a spiritual mother. In all, her biographers re-casted her as a Chinese and Christian who successfully melded the key values of both traditions.
Note(s)
Paper presented at the 9th International Young Scholars’ Symposium on “Christianity and Chinese Society and Culture,” held in December 2018 by The Centre for Christian Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Topic
Type
Article
Date
2019
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture, Chung Chi College, Shatin, Hong Kong