I. Introduction
The term “Cold War” often refers to the geopolitical tension between the US-led camp and the Soviet-aligned communist bloc following the end of WWII. During the Cold War, various political forces sought to shape the mindset of the Chinese diaspora. With the rise of the People’s Republic of China, concerns over “China-mindedness” emerged among colonial authorities in Southeast Asia. Scholars have shown that competing forces at the time engaged in the “imaginings of a Chinese ‘motherland’ (and of Chineseness without a ‘motherland’)” to serve their political agendas.Footnote 1 However, little attention has been paid to the role of Chinese Christian literature in shaping cultural discourse among diasporic communities. While existing research has noted the transnational Christian literary network throughout China and Southeast Asia during the Republican period (1912–1949),Footnote 2 it was in the 1950s that Chinese Christian literature began to decouple from its geographic center and focus more on overseas Chinese. As Hong Kong emerged as a hub for Chinese Christian publishing following the 1949 political shifts in China, Christian literary workers launched a range of evangelical initiatives aimed at reaching the Chinese diaspora, adding their own efforts to shape diasporic identities into the broader context of Cold War ideological competition.
This article examines how evangelical writers navigated political and ideological conflicts through the case study of Dengta (Lighthouse, 1956–1967), an influential Christian monthly published by the Christian Witness Press of the China Inland Mission in Hong Kong.Footnote 3 Dengta was the first Chinese Christian magazine designed to reach non-Christians worldwide. Its global evangelical vision distinguishes it from contemporary Chinese Christian publications, which often target believers. The magazine marks a pivotal shift in Chinese Christian publishing, signaling a global movement aimed at evangelizing overseas Chinese. To appeal to this audience, Dengta adopted an ethnic and cultural rhetoric of Chineseness and presented Christian ideals in a context that resonated with their experiences. The term “Chineseness” refers to a dynamic process of negotiating what it means to be Chinese. As Weiyu Zhang suggests, this ongoing identity work is best understood when Chineseness is seen as “a constitutive element of the world and is relational to other identity works” in host countries.Footnote 4 Dengta’s evangelical discourse engaged with the cultural and spiritual identities of the Chinese diaspora. I argue that the Chineseness promoted by Dengta helped construct a transregional and transnational sense of belonging by integrating traditional Chinese culture and modern knowledge into a Christian cosmic worldview.
Dengta was published and circulated at crucial “diaspora moments” when the notion of Chineseness was contested and challenged in Southeast Asia. In light of Shelly Chan’s study of diasporic Chinese experience, this article adopts an analytical paradigm that treats the notion of diaspora as a series of moments linking to an imagined homeland or cultural identity. The term “diaspora,” originally referring to the Jewish people in exile, has become a common framework in migration studies. Scholars of Chinese migration, however, critique the notion of diaspora for its tendency to flatten differences and essentialize Chinese identity into a singular construct. They argue that using the notion of diaspora as an analytical tool overlooks the rich diversity and complexity within diasporic communities. In response, Chan introduces temporality as an analytical tool to study overseas Chinese communities. By foregrounding diasporic experiences that challenge rigid, monolithic views of cultural identity, this paradigm restores the fluidity of Chineseness, acknowledging it as a dynamic and context-sensitive concept in constant flux, and its negotiation as a key process in Chinese immigrant history.Footnote 5 This article applies Chan’s concept of temporality to Dengta, exploring how the magazine facilitated a space for its readers to navigate and negotiate their identities about an evangelical vision of Chinese culture and history. By engaging with Dengta, readers were positioned at intersections between faith, culture, and overseas Chinese communities. Readers’ encounters with Dengta thus illuminate an understudied aspect of the diasporic experience mediated through evangelical literature. This article foregrounds the evangelical efforts of Chinese Christian literary workers to shape the diasporic experience amid the political tensions of the Cold War. It examines how Dengta emerged within the thriving Christian publishing landscape of post-war Hong Kong and developed a religious discourse of Chineseness.
II. Shifting Chinese Christian Literature and Post-war Hong Kong
An integral part of Protestant missions in modern China was their publication enterprises. Pioneer Protestant missionaries turned to literary work due to imperial decrees that prohibited missionary activities and public preaching in the early nineteenth century. After missionaries were allowed to build churches and preach the gospel throughout the Qing empire after the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin (1858) and the Convention of Peking (1860), Christian literary work remained on the agenda of missionary societies, though rarely as a priority. Most societies, as John Tsz-pang Lai notes, delegated literary work to prominent tract and literature societies.Footnote 6 With the arrival of liberal-minded missionaries in the late nineteenth-century China who aimed to launch broad socio-cultural transformation, leading Christian publishers published a wide array of religious books, periodicals, and tracts. Christian publications surged during the Republican period, with Protestant publishers established in many Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu.Footnote 7 In the study of Chinese Christianity in the modern period, Lai even advocates a “literary turn” to foreground the role of Christian texts in exploring the dynamic encounter of Chinese literary traditions and Christian thinking.Footnote 8
When the Communist Party won the civil war (1945–1949) against the Nationalist Party and established a new regime in 1949, Christianity underwent a series of reforms in line with government social ideals. The United Front Work which oversaw religious policy established the basic principles regarding Christianity and required it to be severed from imperialism and operated by Chinese people. In the context of the Korean War, the government intensified campaigns to eliminate American imperialist influence, leading to a mass reform campaign within Christian organizations.Footnote 9 Amid the anti-imperialist patriotic transformation of Christianity in China, the religious publishing industry came under increasing centralized political censorship and was eventually incorporated into the state’s planned publishing system in early 1956.Footnote 10
The political upheaval during the Chinese civil war led to the southward relocation of several Protestant publishing institutions to Hong Kong. While some missionary societies withdrew all or most of their resources from Hong Kong to elsewhere in fear that the Liberation Army would take Hong Kong back, some chose to stay in Hong Kong due to the large number of diasporic Chinese there.Footnote 11 Christian literary work for Chinese people consequently surged in Hong Kong. According to Ying Fuk-tsang, Christian literary work in Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s can be divided into three categories. A prominent one was major Christian publishers who either relocated to Hong Kong or established branches there, eventually concentrating their literary work in Hong Kong after foreign missions were expelled from China in the early 1950s. Among these Christian publishers were the Christian Witness Press of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF, previously known as CIM—the China Inland Mission) and the Council on Christian Literature for Overseas Chinese (CCLOC), which succeeded the work of the interdenominational Christian publisher the Christian Literature Society. The second category was comprised of publishing departments established by several denominations after relocating to Hong Kong. The third type of literary work involved Christian publishers newly established in Hong Kong, primarily by individual Christians.Footnote 12 With the influx of mission funds and evangelists from mainland China, Hong Kong rapidly emerged as a center for Chinese Christian publishing enterprises.
The political changes in China in 1949 altered the trajectory of Chinese Christian publishing, prompting Christian groups to focus more on overseas Chinese communities. In 1956, a conference was convened by the CCLOC to better understand the tasks facing Christian literary workers and find a more united and effective approach to accomplish them. Representatives of various Christian publishing organizations in Hong Kong as well as delegates from the chief overseas centers of the Chinese church attended the conference. Driven by the belief that the “ministry of the written word is a Christian vocation,” there was a consensus among participants who viewed print media as the most efficient tool to evangelize overseas Chinese at the time.Footnote 13 Regarding the question of how to “better serve the Cause of Chinese Christian literature,” Rev. Lee Ching Ming, the chairman of the Publications Committee of the CCLOC, highlighted the importance of delving deeper into Chinese culture and bringing to the Chinese people “a realization that the Chinese Church has a glorious history of its own.” Rev. Lee advocated that the CCLOC was “not merely for Chinese, but of Chinese” and similar attempts should be made by the Chinese Christian community.Footnote 14 While the emphasis on the role of Chinese Christians in producing literature reflects a determination to indigenize printed materials, many Christian publications in the 1950s and 1960s continued the mission work previously conducted in mainland China and few original works published in Hong Kong at the time.Footnote 15
A notable change during the transition period of Chinese Christian literary work was its increasing orientation toward a global approach. Historically, Christian publishing efforts had been hampered by dispersed resources and a lack of unified, far-reaching plans, as many Christian organizations operated independently.Footnote 16 However, the 1950s and 1960s saw a notable interdenominational and interregional collaboration, leading to the formation of the Hong Kong Christian Writers’ Fellowship and the establishment of a global network for distributing printed materials.Footnote 17 The question of how to reach the broader Chinese diaspora was a key topic at the 1956 conference on Chinese Christian literature. At the time, it was reported that regions such as Malaya, Borneo, Indonesia, Taiwan and Burma had a combined Chinese population of thirteen to fourteen million. An estimated 50 percent were literate in Chinese, though only 2–10 percent were able to read advanced Chinese. In response to these limitations, conference participants emphasized the need to produce printed materials with simplified vocabulary to maximize accessibility.Footnote 18 With a renewed focus on Chinese communities outside mainland China, Hong Kong-based Christian presses began to export gospel tracts, magazines, books, and posters across Southeast Asia and beyond.
III. Dengta: Globalizing the Gospel to Non-Believers
The early 1950s provided the context for the emergence of Dengta. When the CIM, an interdenominational mission society active in China since 1865, retreated to Hong Kong, it readjusted its mission focus. In 1951, the CIM convened a conference in the United Kingdom, where it formally changed its name to the OMF. This rebranding marked a strategic shift in its focus toward serving overseas Chinese communities and other populations in new mission fields. The mission society adapted its evangelical strategies and redeployed its missionaries to various regions, including Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand. The OMF relied on cooperation with mission partnerships such as Protestant mission forces and indigenous Christian leaders in these mission fields. By the end of 1952, the OMF had stationed 199 missionaries across seven countries and regions in the Pacific rim. Noting the importance of printed materials in evangelism, the OMF carried on its literary program under the new name of the Christian Witness Press based in Hong Kong. Until autumn in 1951, it distributed evangelical tracts to mainland China, and then shifted focus to Mandarin-speaking populations in new mission fields when the mainland closed its door to foreign missions. The Press later expanded its program and by the early 1960s had distributed millions of tracts, tens of thousands of bible study booklets, and gospel posters in thirty-five languages.Footnote 19 Dengta was one of its literary initiatives aimed at reaching the Chinese diaspora.
The founding editor of Dengta was Rev. Paul H. Bartel, a former Alliance missionary who used to be the co-editor of the bimonthly Shengjing Bao (The Bible Magazine), a periodical published by the Alliance Press in 1947 in Shanghai.Footnote 20 In 1949 Bartel moved the Alliance Press to Hong Kong.Footnote 21 The initiative to reach overseas non-Christian Chinese through a monthly magazine began around 1954, when Bartel envisioned creating a Christian publication for this demographic. He collaborated with colleagues from the Christian Witness Press, who shared his passion for Christian literature. Chinese editor Liu Yiling was a former Republican diplomat in India in the 1940s who converted to Christianity in Pakistan. Later Liu relocated to Hong Kong and worked on translation.Footnote 22 In the early years of Dengta, Liu worked with Bartel and took on the role of editor independently when Bartel retired. Liu continued as editor until the 134th issue was published in August 1967. Wu Huaizhen took over as editor for subsequent issues until 1970.Footnote 23 Throughout its course, the magazine’s diverse columns included religion, education, home life, hygiene, novels, stories, biographies, an English section, book reviews, church news, photos, and readers’ correspondence. As a global evangelical magazine, Dengta’s editorial board actively welcomed feature stories from overseas Chinese, particularly those focusing on church life, local culture, the daily life of overseas Chinese communities, and their interactions with local populations.Footnote 24
Dengta’s approach to reach non-Christians with Christian materials met with resistance from some within the Christian community. At a time when the primary mission of Chinese Christian publishers was to nurture the spiritual life of churches and believers, Christian magazines were largely directed at a Christian readership, focusing on biblical teachings, faith-related topics, and issues pertinent to children, youth groups, and family life.Footnote 25 Zhou Tianhe (Rev. Daniel Tin-Wo Chow), a frequent contributor to Dengta, identified three types of opposition to this outward approach. First, some critics argued that articles for non-Christians lacked “spiritual value” (shuling jiazhi), citing the verse about building with wood, hay, and straw in 1 Corinthians 3:12. Second, others claimed that their spiritual gift was “inward” (duinei), meaning they wrote effectively for believers but found writing for non-Christians spiritually exhausting. Third, some felt that the writings of well-educated Christian authors were too difficult for Dengta’s general readership to comprehend. In response, Zhou emphasized that the magazine’s mission was to preach the gospel “outward” (duiwai), adopting an approach that subtly wove the gospel message into “secular” themes. Given the low literacy rate of the Chinese language among the diaspora, Dengta intentionally used simple and plain Chinese. Zhou ultimately affirmed that God’s omnipotence could work through any form of writing to fulfill His purpose, whether directly or indirectly.Footnote 26
Dengta, a Mandarin-language magazine for non-Christian Chinese, had a wide circulation from the outset, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region but extending as far as the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, and Switzerland. In its launch year of 1956, the magazine had established fourteen communication offices around the world, in addition to its office in Hong Kong.Footnote 27 In 1957, more than 10,000 copies of the publication were distributed across forty countries.Footnote 28 By 1960, the magazine had reached seventy-three countries and the monthly circulation that year was around 20,000 copies.Footnote 29 By 1967, local offices dealing with subscriptions had increased to twenty-two. Readers in Taiwan could also place subscriptions at any local post office, indicating an extensive distribution network.Footnote 30 Additionally, Christian readers with evangelistic fervor acted as individual agents in distributing the magazine. The editorial board encouraged readers to purchase extra copies for friends and relatives.Footnote 31 One example of the many readers who responded to this call was the famous Chinese evangelist Cai Sujuan (Christiana Tsai, 1890–1984), writer of Anshi zhihou (Queen of the Dark Chamber), who subscribed to sixty copies of the magazine for her friends.Footnote 32 OMF missionaries also provided copies of Dengta for evangelical work in military hospitals and detention centers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Footnote 33
Dengta was printed in Hong Kong and posted to Southeast Asia, unlike most production in the OMF literature program which was “dispersed among centers in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Manila” while having “literature superintendent and other staff residing in Hong Kong.” The decentralization of the literary work, according to Anthony J. Miller, was due to the fear of “political instability in the New Fields.”Footnote 34 For over a decade, Dengta managed to attract a relatively stable number of subscriptions, until when the Indonesian government banned Chinese-language publications in 1968, leading to a loss of 5,000–7,000 monthly subscriptions. Coupled with the decline in the use of the Chinese language in overseas Chinese schools and even the closure of Chinese schools amid the rise of indigenous nationalism in Southeast Asia, Dengta eventually ceased in 1970.Footnote 35
As the first Chinese Christian magazine for non-believers outside mainland China, Dengta filled a gap by providing accessible Christian literature aimed at a broader audience to overseas Chinese communities. Although based in Hong Kong, local subscribers in the first year were under 1,000; most readers were overseas Chinese living in the Pacific rim.Footnote 36 A report published in Dengta in July 1957 shows that it was widely received in many mission fields. In Japan, Dengta was reported to be the most popular Chinese-language magazine and became a key tool for reaching the Chinese diaspora. It was equally well-received by the Chinese community in South Korea. Circulation in the Philippines reached around 1,000 copies: a relatively strong outcome given the size of the local Chinese population. In Taiwan, the report noted that a university subscribed to Dengta, and the magazine could be seen at newsstands in train stations and on the streets. In Malaya, even in small villages, the magazine was sold in several Chinese shops. In North Borneo, Dengta was available in bookstores. In Argentina, one reader subscribed to nine copies for friends and ordered another ten for his relatives. In New Zealand, another reader often gave Dengta to Chinese sailors.Footnote 37 One article highlights that the readership also included individuals without Chinese heritage who had learned the language. For instance, a Korean Christian studying Chinese literature at Seoul University transferred from a Korean church to the Seoul Chinese Christian Church. He wrote to the editorial board expressing his enthusiasm for the novels published in Dengta and his desire to read more issues featuring original religious novels created by the Chinese Christian community.Footnote 38 While the report circulated in Dengta may be written for fundraising purposes, readers’ active responses as seen in the readers’ columns introduced from late 1957 demonstrates the magazine’s popularity among global Chinese diaspora communities.
The birth and popularity of Dengta highlight a shift in mission history among overseas Chinese communities. In the early twentieth century, evangelical work in the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia was conducted by both Western and Chinese missionaries, facilitated by transnational networks that were centered in China. During this time, several Christian periodicals emerged to reach overseas Chinese. Before delving into a textual analysis of Dengta, it is beneficial to first compare Dengta with these pioneering evangelical literary works to form a comprehensive understanding of its distinct contributions and its place within the broader context of overseas mission history.
Nanzhong (Southern Bell, 1928–present) Footnote 39: Nanzhong was established by the Malayan Chinese Methodist Church and published in Singapore. Its founding purpose was to promote Christian doctrine and report on church activities. An issue published in 1949 shows that the magazine featured substantial religious content, including sections on preaching, revival, religious education, and youth evangelism.Footnote 40 The magazine remained bi-monthly until 2024 when it transitioned to a monthly publication. It is currently published by the Chinese Annual Conference of the Methodist Church in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia.Footnote 41
Nandao Husheng (The Call of the Southern Islands, 1929–1935?)Footnote 42: Published in Guangxi Province in South China, the annual magazine Nandao Husheng was established by the Chinese Foreign Missionary Union (Zhonghua guowai budaotuan). The magazine’s primary objective was to disseminate news about evangelical activities in Southeast Asia, then known as Nanyang. Despite the geographic focus of mission work being centered in China at the time, the magazine sought to “promote the call of missions to Nanyang in the churches of China.” It emerged from Alliance missionary Robert A. Jaffray’s journey across the region south of China, where he observed “a vast un-Christianized space” with “a lack of churches and pastors to cater to” Chinese Christians there.Footnote 43 Nandao Husheng was published at least until 1935.Footnote 44
Changkai de men (The Open Door, 1937–1939)Footnote 45: Changkai de men was a bimonthly magazine distributed in China and Southeast Asia. It circulated news and the letters of Ni Tuosheng (1903–1972, also known as Watchman Nee), an influential church leader of the twentieth century. The magazine was founded during the escalation of the Japanese invasion of China with the aim of articulating the principles of evangelical work and connecting the scattered followers of Ni.Footnote 46
Magazines of Chinese Evangelistic Bands from the 1930s to 1940s: In his study of transnational Chinese evangelism across China and Southeast Asia, Joshua Dao Wei Sim observes that the large-scale Chinese migration to Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century created a context for the development of diasporic Christian networks. Song Shangjie (1901–1944, also known as John Sung), a prominent evangelist-revivalist, started the evangelistic bands in the 1930s, which later developed into a transnational network. The evangelistic bands established magazines, often titled “Quanguo Jidutu Budaotuan Tuankan or Nationwide Evangelistic Bands (or Leagues) Magazine,” to publish their evangelistic experiences to be disseminated throughout China and Southeast Asia. Sim notes the inaugural magazine was published in 1935 by Hangzhou Evangelistic League after Song’s bible study meeting there.Footnote 47
Shengjing Bao (1913–1939, 1940–1941, 1947–1980, 2000–)Footnote 48: Initially established in Guangxi Province by Robert A. Jaffray, Shengjing Bao circulated writings by leading evangelical Christians and shifted from literary Chinese to Mandarin in the 1930s when the editorial office was moved to Shanghai. The content included biographies, bible expositions, and teachings.Footnote 49 The magazine began being published in Hong Kong from the third issue of 1949 after the Alliance Press relocated there. With nine branches and agencies including Penang, Singapore, Taiwan, Manila, and Surabaya at the time, Shengjing Bao had around 10,000 subscribers across Southeast Asia.Footnote 50 From 1962, the bimonthly magazine became a monthly publication and expanded to have sixteen agencies in various countries and regions.Footnote 51
Shengming (The Life, 1949–1970s)Footnote 52: Shengming was published by Sheng dao (Holy Word) Press in Hong Kong, which was the publication department of the transnational Evangelize China Fellowship (ECF, Zhongguo budaohui) founded by Ji Zhiwen (also known as Andrew Ji). The magazine was initially established to supply churches in mainland China with regular Christian literature. It later became “one of the few regularly published magazines produced by a Chinese evangelical organization during the 1950s to 1970s” across the world. In 1960, according to Sim, “the magazine was sold from Hong Kong to distributors and supporters in parts of Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia, North America, France, and even the West Indies.” Content often included reports about “the activities of the different ECF branch organizations in Asia.”Footnote 53
An overview illustrates that most of these Christian magazines were centered in China before 1949, with Nanzhong being one of the few published by overseas Chinese Christians. In addition to religious content, several of these magazines reported on evangelistic activities, often led by well-known evangelists through transnational networks. In contrast to these “inward” approaches, Dengta took a more “outward” perspective by engaging a broader audience beyond the Christian community. It promoted an evangelical vision of Chineseness in the modern world, aiming to reach Chinese diasporas through a synthesis of cultural and religious perspectives.
IV. Advocating an Evangelical Rhetoric of Chineseness
The Cold War has been described as an ideological conflict where a vast amount of cultural production including radio broadcasts and printed material is generated amid propaganda campaigns launched by different political sides. From the end of WWII to the late 1950s, efforts were made by the United States, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of China to transform the minds and hearts of overseas Chinese who had Chinese heritage in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.Footnote 54 Literary scholars of Chinese-language texts produced during the time highlight the “complex interplays of international and national politics,” showing how diasporic cultural expression “creatively responded and adapted to local and global hegemonic forces.” In studying an influential non-Christian Chinese-language magazine titled Chinese Student Weekly (published in Hong Kong between 1952 and 1974), Shuang Shen explores how the magazine served as a network that “informed and intersected with the transpacific and intercultural production of ‘Chineseness’” in the context of Cold War.Footnote 55 Unlike the Cold War cultural infrastructure established by organizations sponsored by the United States such as Chinese Student Weekly, the Chinese Christian literary work examined in this article was driven not by political ideologies but by an evangelical vision. Christian publications of the time illustrate that Christian intellectuals were acutely aware of the political forces in post-war Hong Kong and wanted to maintain a clear separation between politics and religion. In a 1964 meeting hosted by the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union, prominent Christian writer Cao Xinming (1896–1984) reflected on Christian literary work, stating that it should not be tainted by political influences as Christianity has its own theology of the heavenly Kingdom, which treats all nations and peoples equally.Footnote 56 Dengta’s evangelical approach differentiates itself from political propaganda by promoting a discourse of Chineseness that intertwines both cultural and religious perspectives. This section traces three threads of this discourse.
Promoting a Religious Cosmic View: In the whirlpool of post-WWII transformations, where political, economic, and cultural forces, along with Western influence, intersected to shape the identities and experiences of overseas Chinese communities,Footnote 57 Dengta’s evangelical discourse advocated a religious and cultural vision that synthesized traditional culture and modern knowledge into a Christian cosmic view. A distinctive feature of the magazine was the inclusion of traditional Chinese culture such as calligraphy and painting. From its inception, the magazine recognized the value of traditional culture, curating the Chinese characters Dengta in a font that was taken from the work of a leading Chinese calligrapher Yan Zhenqing (709–785) from Tang Dynasty. A reader once advised the editor, Liu Yiling, to change the calligraphic style of the Chinese title to a modern one, but Liu insisted on using Yan’s work as Yan was an influential Chinese calligrapher, and the two Chinese characters taken from Duobaota bei (inscription on Duobao Tower) were highly acclaimed. Liu believed that using Yan’s calligraphy, which represented mastery of traditional arts, would allow the modern-day audience to better appreciate the beauty of Chinese traditions and culture.Footnote 58
Many articles and images published in Dengta were about Chinese paintings by artists of the Lingnan (Cantonese) School of Painting. The founders of the Lingnan School endeavored to modernize traditional paintings “with new Western ideas and artistic techniques” and promote it as the “new national painting” in Nationalist China. After 1949, Hong Kong became “a natural refuge for non-Communist Cantonese artists” who were “supported by the local pride of a predominantly Cantonese population.”Footnote 59 One regular contributor to Dengta was Zhao Shao’ang (1905–1998), whom Ralph Croizier notes as “probably the most famous of all the second generation painters in the Lingnan School.”Footnote 60 Zhao was a leading figure in promoting Chinese paintings overseas and had held various exhibitions in the United States. After his American exhibition tour in 1960, Dengta published an interview with Zhao to highlight the importance of Chinese art.Footnote 61 In 1963, Liu invited Zhao to write articles for the column on practical painting. From January 1965 onwards, the magazine regularly published Zhao’s writings on painting theory and skills, and altogether published close to seventy articles in this column.Footnote 62
The promotion of traditional Chinese culture in Dengta paralleled the broader cultural revival in post-war Hong Kong. A prominent endeavor that sought to uphold Chinese tradition as opposed to the cultural iconoclasm launched by Chinese Communism was the establishment of New Asia College in Hong Kong in 1949. Grace Ai-Ling Chou demonstrates that the early history of the College reflects its mission guided by “principles of Confucian educational philosophy and Chinese culture.”Footnote 63 However, unlike the nationalist agenda of the New Asia founders, Liu Yiling’s inclusion of traditional Chinese paintings was motivated by their reflection of the aesthetical dimension of divine creation. As seen in the early 1960s debate about whether to circulate in Dengta the paintings and writings of Zhou Qianqiu (1910–2006) and Liang Canying (1921–2005), an artist couple in the Lingnan School who were not Christians at the time, Christian faith remained a key criterion for selecting paintings in Christian magazines. Nonetheless, there was a consensus among members of the Christian Association of Writers in Hong Kong—including Liu and Liu’s successor, Wu Huaizhen—that Zhou’s views aligned with the bible and that the work of both Zhou and Liang possessed high artistic refinement.Footnote 64 The debate sheds light on the intersection of religious beliefs and artistic expression, illustrating how Christian writers in Hong Kong justified the inclusion of non-Christian art within a faith-based framework and facilitated the broader integration of traditional culture into their evangelical discourse.
Another crucial dimension underpinning the religious cosmic view portrayed in Dengta is modern knowledge, which was incorporated into nearly every issue. These writings covered aspects of medical science, childrearing, hygiene, scientific development, biology, psychology, and photography. The two most regular themes were health and science, which in many cases were intertwined. The editorial board believed that physical health was just as important as spiritual health: therefore, the magazine aimed to publish articles on wellbeing and hygiene.Footnote 65 Over time, the religious magazine published a series of articles on common diseases, including colds, dental hygiene, diarrhea, and cardiac disease. It also introduced cutting-edge medical research to readers in plain language. For example, in April the year after the ninth International Cancer Congress held in Tokyo in October 1966, Dengta published an article based on the report of Italian pathologist Umberto Saffiotti, who spoke at the opening scientific sessions of the Congress about the role of vitamin A in preventing and curing lung cancer.Footnote 66 The magazine translated his speech and used both descriptive words and terminology in Chinese and English to explain the research procedure and findings.Footnote 67 Positioned right after the cover page, this article attempted to popularize advanced medical knowledge among overseas Chinese communities. Likewise, the usage of the Chinese language to introduce scientific breakthroughs enabled Chinese readers to understand and conceptualize modern concepts that were otherwise conveyed in English.
By circulating medical knowledge together with other scientific knowledge ranging from energy to the cosmos, Dengta crafted a religious discourse of modernity that highlighted the alignment of the material aspects of the world with Christian faith. This perspective was evident in articles published in Dengta in August and September 1960 written by cancer expert Dr Tan Tianjun. These articles argued that God created the world and revealed Himself through both creation and the bible. The Christian view of science, as presented in the articles, was that science glorifies the divine being and enhances human welfare.Footnote 68 The narrative of a modern world governed by a divine being differs from the secular writings at the time. In the context of the Cold War, research shows that the term “modernity” was linked to the reimagining of the nation in mid-twentieth century Chinese literature following the 1949 political division. Chinese writers at the time took different directions in response to socialist agendas, colonial modernity, anti-Communist regimes, and the global arena.Footnote 69 The Christian magazine Dengta, however, engaged with the cultural discourses from an apolitical perspective and integrated modern knowledge into its religious framework. It helped overseas Chinese-language speakers conceptualize a modern world that harmonized faith with contemporary realities, encouraging them to embrace Christian beliefs while maintaining their cultural heritage. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Chinese communities cultivated a “more flexible” cultural identity to facilitate their integration into the emerging host nation-states,Footnote 70 Dengta reaffirmed their cultural roots.
Remapping Chinese History and (Re)structuring Everyday Life: In his study of overseas Chinese Christians, Sim argues that religious ethnocentrism became a prominent form of identity after WWII. It denotes narratives that stress “the special obligation of the Chinese Christians to evangelize the world, and the need to proselytize the Chinese diaspora.” In short, this type of overseas Chinese Protestantism, as seen in transnational Chinese evangelical institutions worldwide, was “ethnic-centered—rather than China-centered.”Footnote 71 However, such an interpretative framework risks oversimplifying the complex relationship between ethnicity and China as a country, particularly during the transitional period following the 1949 political split. An examination of the evangelical writings in Dengta reveals efforts to situate China within the broader history of Christ’s salvation. Whether addressing China’s modern history or contemporary overseas Chinese communities, the magazine presents a Sino-Western Christian narrative intertwined with the goal of Christianizing the world, highlighting the universal nature of the Christian faith that transcends race, ethnicity, and geography.
At the 1956 CCLOC conference, there was a broad consensus among Chinese Christian literary workers on the need to demonstrate that the Chinese church had its own history. The editorial board of Dengta was also aware that many Chinese readers rejected Christianity due to its perceived foreignness. In a September 1961 article in Dengta, Zhou Tianhe noted that many “Chinese compatriots” saw Christianity as a foreign religion. Citing John 3:16, Zhou argued that Christianity was meant for all humankind.Footnote 72 This ecumenical perspective was evident throughout the magazine, with many articles working to place China within the broader history of salvation. From its inception, Dengta published stories of both Chinese and foreign Christians who witnessed to their faith during the late Qing and Republican periods. In its second issue, the magazine featured the story of Shi Meiyu (1873–1954, also known as Mary Stone), who played a pioneering role in women’s medical service and Christian mission work.Footnote 73 That same issue introduced readers to the first Chinese Christian martyr, Che Jinjiang. The author, Christian historian Jian Youwen, argued that Che died for his faith in Christ. Unlike Cai Gao, the first Chinese Christian who died in prison due to international politics, Che was killed by local bandits on October 15, 1861, after being tortured for his faith.Footnote 74 By choosing a figure with a less political narrative, the magazine emphasized personal sacrifice and individual religious devotion instead of focusing on the broader geopolitical context.
Dengta also published the evangelical work of foreign missionaries in modern China to demonstrate that God’s love was transnational and cross-cultural. The magazine published two articles on Gladys Aylward in March 1958 when the British missionary visited her friends in Hong Kong. Aylward was famous for her evangelical work in China in the 1930s and 1940s. The two articles discussed how Aylward travelled to Shanxi without any Christian institutional support in 1930 yet conducted evangelical work among local people until 1949. Driven by the love of God, Aylward took in nearly 150 orphans and risked her life to take them to safety when the area was invaded by Japanese military forces.Footnote 75 She even burned her British passport when reminded by God to be devoted to the mission work in China.Footnote 76
The magazine highlights that Chinese Christians were active in evangelistic activities in domestic society and overseas Chinese communities. Several articles written by Wu Mu’en were devoted to the influential evangelist Song Shangjie. The author depicted one of Song’s revival meetings that he attended in Chaoshan. According to Wu’s account, Song’s sermon focused on the doctrine of sin and advocated that the cleansing of sins was a prerequisite for the church to experience a spiritual revival. At the meeting, many believed in Christ because of the work of the Holy Spirit.Footnote 77 Song’s work also reached the Chinese community in Southeast Asia and was commemorated by local people. In an article published in the magazine in August 1966, the Thai-Chinese author Chen Enxing recalled a revival gathering in Thailand in 1938 where many local people repented and converted to Christianity. On May 25 the following year, Song revisited Thailand and healed a girl with mutism in Phrae. The news of this miracle was widespread across the region, and many started to believe in Christ.Footnote 78 Another Chinese evangelist who worked among overseas Chinese was Zhu Xinghun. In an article published in February 1966, the author Zhu Jianji wrote about the life of his father Zhu Xinghun, who pioneered missionary work in Vietnam and Indonesia. Born in Guangzhou, Zhu Xinghun received the divine call at an early age and worked at a local Presbyterian church after graduating from the Alliance Bible Seminary in 1917. Following the steps of Christian and Missionary Alliance missionary Robert Alexander Jaffray, he visited Vietnam in 1921 to establish new churches. There, he committed himself to preaching to local Chinese people and worked at the establishment of a Chinese church and a bible school for local women. After seven years, Zhu Xinghun travelled to Indonesia to establish a Chinese church. Later, he shifted his work to proselytizing indigenous Indonesians.Footnote 79
The incorporation of articles on Christian work in domestic Chinese society and overseas Chinese communities reconfigured Christianity as an integral part of modern history. The focal point throughout the narratives was to present a past that was Christianized. Some articles written by contemporary Chinese Christians who reflected on their encounters with Christianity indicated a continuity of a Christianized past into the present day. For example, in his testimony, the influential Chinese evangelist Ji Zhiwen attested to how he was converted to Christianity and committed himself to evangelical work. While much of his work in mainland China ceased after 1949, the work of the Evangelize China Fellowship he established in 1947 continued and developed into a global organization.Footnote 80
In addition to reinterpreting Chinese history through the lens of Christianity, a significant focus of Dengta was on the core beliefs of the gospel. Articles on Christology drew from the works of both Chinese and Western Christians. For example, in October 1963, the magazine reprinted the article by Chen Chonggui (1883–1963), a prominent Chinese Christian leader, on how one can be born again and have fellowship with Christ.Footnote 81 In his sermon on the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, Chen defined Christians as those who were reborn in Christ. As Christianity centered on Christ, Chen criticized the Chinese church for being centered on doctrines, just as Nicodemus viewed Jesus as the teacher who only provided external guidance. Chen clarified that the role of Jesus was to redeem, transform, and give new life to people. Those who were moved by the Holy Spirit would repent and be reborn. One therefore needed to accept Jesus and believe in him.Footnote 82
When addressing the daily practice of Christian ideals in the modern day, Dengta established a column titled Answers from Billy Graham in 1957, featuring an influential American evangelist well known for his radio and television ministry. The column in Dengta was based on a newspaper column titled My Answer, an endeavor commenced by Graham in 1952 to address the personal dilemmas of readers with simple theological teachings. This column appeared in various American newspaper dailies and had an extensive readership. Dengta selected some of the questions from My Answer and published the translated version in almost every issue.
Raised by individual readers, these questions were personal and were derived from everyday life. One was raised by a Christian who questioned how to prove to non-Christian colleagues that the bible was God’s words. In response, Graham discouraged the reader from arguing with them as no one would believe in Christ simply through debates. Instead, he suggested the reader to replace the religious debate with a discussion on the importance of Jesus in the reader’s life. In Graham’s belief, it was crucial to introduce to non-believers who Jesus was, and he recommended the reader to give The Gospel of John to his/her colleagues.Footnote 83 A female reader asked whether she should oppose her husband’s decision to stay unemployed. This reader used to be a housewife but had to work when her husband was ill. Now that her husband was healed and capable of working, he hoped that she could continue with her job while he stayed at home. Graham replied that this reader’s husband had an incorrect understanding of the concept of family. While many women had a career at the time, they did so by their own volition and were not expected to replace their husbands as breadwinners. Graham considered this issue an example of the chaos in contemporary human society that disrupted the divine order where men should work. Therefore, Graham considered it necessary for the reader’s husband to form a correct understanding of God first. The reader was advised to pray for this matter and invite her husband to discuss the issue with their pastor.Footnote 84
Graham’s simple and straightforward answers to readers’ personal dilemmas through his columns were reflective of evangelical forces that emphasized daily religious experience. In his study of Billy Graham’s My Answer, Charles H. Lippy argues that Graham’s approach took on the evangelical legacy of “the revival movements of the nineteenth century” which stressed “the role of the individual in deciding whether to accept the ‘gift’ of salvation available to all.” Thus, the individual’s rebirth was viewed as crucial to determining whether the conversion was genuine, which required “some public dimension at least so that the community of believers may assess its authenticity.” A genuine Christian would seek “guidelines in order to channel behavior in the right direction,”Footnote 85 and My Answer was an attempt to help readers to think and act in a proper way. Although the personal matters might be individualistic, Lippy assesses the questions as paradigmatic and essentially dealing with “issues which disrupt an orderly life of faith or generate doubts as to the genuineness of one’s Christian affirmation.”Footnote 86 The incorporation of Graham’s column in Dengta likewise offered guidance to Chinese readers interested in conducting a Christian life. The theological principles undergirding Graham’s answers could address readers’ concerns in a broad sense. Using simple languages and examples from daily life, this column was part of the evangelical narrative promoted by Dengta to (re)construct day-to-day life in communion with Christ.
While Dengta, like the overseas Chinese evangelical organizations discussed by Sim, focused on ethnic Chinese communities, its Sino-Western narrative—both past and present—emphasizes the universality of the Christian faith. By positioning China within the global Christian movement and situating overseas Chinese communities within the evangelical discourse of global salvation, the magazine documented the integration of Chinese Christianity into the broader unfolding global narrative. In this sense, the notion of Chineseness portrayed by Dengta highlights religious connection within the global evangelical community rather than its ethnic distinctiveness.
Forming a Global Diasporic Chinese Community: Dengta deliberately created a kind of singular understanding of Chinese diaspora that scholars criticize for its overgeneralization to serve the development of a group identity. In the process of reaching Chinese diasporas, the magazine emphasizes a sense of a global diasporic Chinese community prompted by the editorial board and its readers. The magazine foregrounded a collective consciousness by circulating and reporting news about key cultural and social developments within Chinese communities around the world. For example, an article published in 1958 introduced prominent overseas Chinese, including Nobel prize winners, by publishing their photos and summarizing their achievements in science, politics, arts, and music in 1957. By highlighting these figures, the magazine not only celebrated the global successes of Chinese individuals but also reinforced a sense of pride and unity among its readers. It created a narrative of shared progress among overseas Chinese, who were collectively categorized as hua qiao. Footnote 87
Dengta made a persistent effort to form a sense of overseas Chinese community, primarily by portraying the world through a diasporic lens. The magazine featured articles and photos from different countries and regions. In its early years, these articles focus on the local culture, religion, and the history and contemporary life of the Chinese diaspora in the Asia-Pacific rim. Furthermore, the magazine addressed crucial topics related to the significant changes facing Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. As nationalism surged after WWII in newly independent countries like Myanmar and the Philippines, several articles in Dengta reported on the shifting conditions within these emerging nations. For example, two months after the Malayan Declaration of Independence, Dengta published an article discussing its impact on the local Chinese population. The author, Lin Zhengye (1903–1986), a pioneering Chinese missionary in Indonesia, addressed the issue of nationality. At the time, 40 percent of Malay’s total population was Chinese. While Chinese people maintained their own language, religion, and customs, Lin thought that the majority would choose to become Malayan citizens as they were born and raised in Malaya and had deep roots in local society. However, with the rise of Malayan nationalism, Chinese Malayans would face challenges in preserving Chinese culture. Lin acknowledged that ethnocentrism had been common among overseas Chinese in the past. In light of the independence movements, Lin promoted the principles of equality and mutual respect to avoid racial conflicts. According to Lin, the Chinese diaspora should adopt the Confucian ideal, “If a gentleman is deferential and cautious, if he treats others with respect and propriety, then everyone will consider him his brother.”Footnote 88 He also advocated the Christian virtue of humility by citing Philippians 2:3, which admonished people for viewing others as better than oneself. Noting the increase of anti-Chinese incidents in Southeast Asia, Lin expressed hope that the Malayan government would recognize the vital role of the Chinese diaspora in the domestic economy.Footnote 89 On one hand, the magazine provided references to help overseas Chinese conceptualize and form a panoramic view of the world they lived in. On the other hand, it highlighted traditional values and Christian ideals focused on building relationships with others in the context of Cold War cultural politics. It infused a religious and cultural dimension of Chineseness to guide Chinese diasporas in navigating the challenges posed by emerging local nationalisms.
Reader’s Letter Box column, included from the beginning of Dengta’s publication, created an opportunity for readers to interact with the magazine and fellow readers, facilitating a sense of interconnectedness among diasporic readers. Readers’ letters touched on various issues including religious questions, content recommendations, and the impact of the magazine on their life. For example, one Malayan reader called Wang Ai’lan wrote that she used to read novels but later became a loyal reader of Dengta after reading one issue at her Christian friend’s home. She was deeply moved after reading the story of Liu Meili, a Christian writer who survived and thrived despite the amputation of her four limbs at an early age, published in 1958.Footnote 90 Liu’s story reminded the reader of her own sorrowful experience, and like Liu, Wang found great comfort in her Christian faith.Footnote 91 Another reader called Li Guojun wrote that he was surprised to find his father’s photo circulated in the first issue of Dengta. Li’s father lived in Guangzhou and travelled to Hong Kong to visit Li in 1956. At the time, Li’s father attended Billy Graham’s evangelistic campaign and accepted Jesus as his savior. The photo in Dengta had captured this moment. The reader was surprised to find this photo as he was not with his father at Graham’s campaign. Perceiving this incident as a miracle, the reader became fond of reading Dengta. Footnote 92 The circulation of readers’ letters like Wang’s and Li’s thus created a close community through the sharing of personal stories and thoughts.
Readers’ active engagement with Dengta further fostered a sense of global diasporic Chinese community. A letter published in August 1957 reflected some readers’ desire to form a community among Dengta’s readership, leading to a new practice of seeking pen friends through Dengta. In his letter to the magazine, a reader from Sumatra in Indonesia called Chan Kim Pong asked the editor to see if he could introduce him to Christian pen friends to exchange postage stamps, scenic pictures, and Christian books. The magazine included Chan’s address in the issue and a few more requests in the following issue.Footnote 93 A combination of readers’ letters and readers’ information continued to be published until 1959. In the first issue published in 1960, the Reader’s Letter Box was comprised of readers’ requests for pen friends only. The name for the column was later changed to Seeking Friends (zhengyou) in April 1961. The list of readers seeking friends increased in later years and the number of readers whose information was published in the column once reached seventy-seven in February 1967. An overview of these seventy-seven readers’ addresses shows diverse profiles, with a majority coming from the Asia-Pacific region such as Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Vietnam, Laos, and Korea. Three were from England, Canada, and South America. Some wanted to make friends with other Christians, and some wanted to exchange their collections with people who shared similar hobbies.Footnote 94 By providing this communication platform to its readers, the magazine formed a global community across Chinese diasporas.
A common way for readers to connect with one another seen in the Reader’s Letter Box and later the Seeking Friends column was through the exchange of postage stamps. It was first mentioned in a letter published in May 1957 when a Taiwanese reader wanted to exchange stamps for stamps from different countries.Footnote 95 When the magazine published readers’ requirements for pen friends, many wished to exchange postage stamps with others. While a semiotic reading of readers’ stamps is impossible, as stamp images were not printed in Dengta, the exchange of stamps engaged readers in the forming of a broader diasporic community. For example, when a young reader from a Chinese church in Vietnam received hundreds of letters with stamps for exchange, he had to ask the editor to publish his letter to explain his situation. As a primary school student, the reader was unable to reply to all the letters at once without spending up his parents’ living expenses. He asked for the patience of readers who mailed him stamps and would respond to them in turn.Footnote 96 The case reflects the vibrant connections among overseas Chinese communities fostered by Dengta.
In its efforts to reach the non-Christian diaspora, Dengta created a platform centered on the shared concerns of overseas Chinese, incorporated readers’ suggestions, and evolved over time. This reader-focused approach was well-received, as evidenced by the active responses from readers to the editorial board. An exploration of the Reader’s Letter Box and the Seeking Friend column demonstrates that a sense of collective identity manifested in several ways: some readers formed communities of stamp collectors, while others established Christian fellowships with believers in different countries. At a time when the notion of Chineseness was contested within the narrative of “bifurcated homelands” between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party,Footnote 97 Dengta facilitated the development of a spontaneous, reader-based community driven by individual interests across the Chinese diaspora. The magazine provided readers with a sense of “individual agency” that contributed to their collective effort to maintain an “imagined community.”Footnote 98
V. Conclusion
This article revisits a crucial period of Chinese Christian literature when debates about the Chinese diaspora became increasingly politicized during the Cold War. As Chinese Christian literature shifted from mainland China to Hong Kong around 1949, an evangelical effort emerged to Christianize overseas Chinese. The case of the Protestant magazine Dengta exemplifies a religious rhetoric of Chineseness aimed at reaching non-Christian Chinese diasporas. The magazine synthesized a wide range of themes, including the presumed dichotomies of tradition/modern, Chinese/Western, native/foreign, material/spiritual, and science/religion, into a harmonious narrative underpinned by an evangelical vision. It suggests diaspora moments were characterized by the interplay of multiple influences shaping and reshaping readers’ own experiences. At the same time, readers were invited to navigate these complexities through a Christian lens, with the magazine promoting the centrality of Christian faith in addressing both personal and social challenges. In this process, evangelical literary work conceptualized an imagined community to be approached and proselytized. Overseas Chinese across various regions were connected through this evangelical concern and a shared language, reflecting a religious dimension within the contested realm of cultural identity and ideological influence set against the backdrop of the Chinese diaspora and the broader tensions of the Cold War.
The evangelical discourse of Dengta stood in contrast to the religious ethnocentrism that became prevalent among transnational Chinese evangelical institutions after WWII, especially from the 1970s.Footnote 99 As part of the expanding OMF literature program that aimed to evangelize East Asia and other new mission fields, Dengta was missioned to reach Chinese-language readers worldwide by employing a religious-cultural framework within the discourse of Chineseness. By decentralizing the concept of the nation-state, the magazine advocated for a notion of Chineseness that integrated cultural identity, mission history in China, and modernity within a global Christian narrative. Rather than merely adhering to an ethnocentric perspective, Dengta emphasized collaboration between Chinese and foreign missionaries, portraying them as fellow workers in a shared evangelical mission. This inclusive vision was mirrored in the magazine’s production process, which also involved Sino-foreign collaboration in shaping the landscape of Chinese Christianity.
In a war-torn world, Dengta sought to engage with overseas Chinese populations and bring them into a shared religious fellowship. The magazine facilitated the conversion of readers and contributed to the growth of local churches, as those who encountered Christianity through Dengta may have been converted. Readers’ letters to the editorial board reflect the magazine’s significant impact on their spiritual journeys. For example, a reader’s testimony sent to Ron Roberts, the OMF literature superintendent in 1965, mentioned that he began reading Dengta while at a military hospital in Taiwan and later converted to Christianity. Despite being wounded, having lost one hand and an eye, the reader witnessed that he found peace and happiness in his faith.Footnote 100 While the circulation of these testimonies served both outreach and fundraising purposes, the promise of peace and spiritual uplift through evangelical literature provided comfort to many during that time. Circulating in the early years following the 1949 political divide, Dengta exemplifies a globally oriented evangelical endeavor, marking a pivotal moment when Chinese Christian literature embraced a world Christian vision.
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