Abstract
This study looks at some of the Chinese Christian churches of the Boston area by first giving an historical overview and then reporting the findings of the author’s fieldwork in a Chinese church in suburban Boston, which is able to shed some light on the many roles Christianity has during the various phases of Chinese immigration and to suggest that it is an ideology which many Chinese immigrants both identify with and reconceptualize in Confucian terms. This Confucian-Christianity has become a common ideology shared by many Chinese Americans: not only the first-generation immigrants who must strive to assimilate but also those second-, third-, and fourth-generation Chinese Americans who join the church largely to partake of the unique communion that it provides and indeed creates.
Highlights
As the largest Chinese association today in terms of its population, the Chinese Christian church is critical to immigration research
This study looks at some of the Chinese Christian churches of the Boston area, first by tracking an historical overview and by reporting the findings of my fieldwork in a Chinese church in suburban Boston, thereby illuminating the many roles that have been played by Christianity during the various phases of Chinese immigration
Our exploration of the community spread across the Boston Chinese churches has shown that Christianity is an ideology that many Chinese immigrants both identify with and reconceptualize in Confucian terms
Summary
As the largest Chinese association today in terms of its population, the Chinese Christian church is critical to immigration research This is all the more true given that the number of Chinese churches in the United States has been increasing rapidly. More than a third of Chinese/Chinese Americans in the United States today are Christians (Yang, 1998), whereas in China they account for just 3 percent of the population. It came as no surprise; most of the Chinese Christians in the United States converted only after arriving there. This study looks at some of the Chinese Christian churches of the Boston area, first by tracking an historical overview and by reporting the findings of my fieldwork in a Chinese church in suburban Boston, thereby illuminating the many roles that have been played by Christianity during the various phases of Chinese immigration
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