Ancestors, Virgins, and Friars

Eugenio Menegon

“In this rich reconstruction of the Dominican mission to Fujian, Menegon exposes the delicate maneuverings by which ordinary people managed a major cultural divide. His intimate portrait shows us how, in one community, Christianity became an indigenous, and resilient, Chinese religion four centuries ago.”—Timothy Brook, University of British Columbia

“Combining a thorough mastery of Spanish missionary records and profound knowledge of Chinese sites and their sources, this book sets a new standard for the study of Catholic missions and cultural encounter in Late Imperial China.”—R. Po-chia Hsia, Pennsylvania State University

“In this elegant and erudite book, Menegon uncovers the lost history of a four-hundred-year-old Catholic community in China, showing brilliantly how Christianity has become localized, how it has become Chinese, how it has become part of local life. The book convincingly undermines the widespread notion that what is most important about Christianity in China is its foreignness. It needs to be read not only by scholars of Christianity but also by all scholars of late imperial China, who ignore Christianity at the expense of a full understanding of religious life. As the number of Christians grows explosively in China today, this book offers an invaluable account of the past and useful material for reflecting on the future.”—Michael Szonyi, Harvard University

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