Bamboo Swaying in the Wind: A Survivor's Story of Faith and Imprisonment in Communist China - Hardcover

Devaux, Claudia; Wong, George Bernard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0829414584 ISBN 13: 9780829414585

Publisher: Loyola Press, 2000

Synopsis

Claudia Devaux & George Bernard Wong, S.J. Bamboo Swaying in the Wind reveals the extraordinary life story of Chinese Jesuit George Bernard Wong, who was imprisoned in China for more than 25 years for his religious beliefs.  It is a story of romance, joy, political intrigue, cultural revolution, historic oppression, and living hope.  Readers come to know a man of profound faith and endurance who not only survived years of incarceration and solitary confinement but was able to emerge from these experiences with his gentle spirit still intact.  In telling his tale, Wong offers readers spiritual and human insights that can only come from one who has lived such a life. Much of Wong's story remained blocked from memory until recent, gentle talks with coauthor Claudia Devaux drew it out.  Set in a broader cultural context, the narrative allows readers to appreciate this unique personal account of how one man bridged East and West to live out his Jesuit vocation and serve Chinese Christians in our time.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Many historical texts have addressed the demise of religion in China after the Communists took over in 1949, but personal narratives from Catholics in China have been almost nonexistent. For this reason, this memoir by a Chinese Jesuit priest who was imprisoned for more than 25 years will draw a large audience, but most readers will come away discouraged because it does not live up to its potential. Wong's story of being jailed for his faith is indeed compelling, but Devaux's editorial intrusions make the narrative unnecessarily choppy and confusing. At the beginning of each chapter, Devaux comments on the information to come, often explaining what is clear through Wong's words alone. She would have done better to provide more detailed historical background; readers unfamiliar with Chinese protectionist policies, Western missionary activity, or the bloody Taipei Rebellion will struggle to understand the religious and political forces at work in Wong's story. In the last chapter Devaux attempts to provide the thick description that would make this oral history more accessible (such as how Catholicism adapted to native Confucian practices, why the philosophy of St. Ignatius is so appealing to the Chinese, and how the titular metaphor of a "bamboo swaying in the wind" reflects Wong's tenacity), but these analyses come too late. China buffs, historians, and Catholics will find this story mildly interesting, yet lament what could have been.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Wong, a Chinese-born Jesuit priest, provides a first-person account of his 25-year imprisonment by Chinese Communists. Devaux provides the broader historical context for the Communist revolution and its systematic repression of religion, and the efforts of Jesuits to spread their faith in China. The result is a merger of the Chinese culture and the religious culture of the Jesuits. Wong traveled to California in 1939 to begin studying for the priesthood. By the 1950s, when Wong returned to China, the Communists had begun to stamp out religion, terrorizing priests and other agents of the churches. Wong spent seven years in prison, eight years in forced labor camps, and was for several more years prevented from leaving China. He endured attempts at brainwashing and sessions of intimidation and humiliation, during which he was accused of idealism. Wong secretly continued the practice of his religion and ministered to others, surreptitiously baptizing those who requested it. He recounts how the tenets of the Jesuit and Buddhist religions helped him and other prisoners resist Chinese repression. Inspirational. Vanessa Bush
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Edition details

• Publisher: Loyola Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0829414584
• ISBN 13: 9780829414585
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 206