Ian Johnson describes his book this way: “The book tells the story of one of the world’s great spiritual revivals. Following a century of violent anti-religious campaigns, China is now filled with new temples, churches and mosques–as well as cults, sects and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty–over what it means to be Chinese, and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is still searching for new guideposts.
The Souls of China revolves around the lives several people–some famous, others not–as they go through one lunar year: a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle–a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world’s newest superpower.”
Any book that has the endorsement of the great Chinese detective story writer about Inspector Chen and poet is a must read for me. Qiu Xiaolong‘s enthusiasm is that “The Souls of China is a must read for an understanding of China.”
Ian Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who works out of Beijing and Berlin, where he also teaches and advises academic journals and think tanks. Johnson has spent more than half of the past thirty years in the Greater China region, first as a student in Beijing from 1984 to 1985, and then in Taipei from 1986 to 1988. He later worked as a newspaper correspondent in China with Baltimore’s The Sun and The Wall Street Journal.
Read about the religions of Chinese-Americans in Flushing!
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