God Aboveground: Catholic Church, Postsocialist State, and Transnational Processes in a Chinese Village (review)

Contemporary observers of Chinese Catholicism will find much to ponder in this 1990's interdisciplinary case-study of a rural Hakka village in Guangdong province. Eriberto P. Lozada, Jr., an anthropologist, urges the reader to agree with his conclusion that "[t]he highly diverse situations of Catholics throughout China cannot be easily reduced to the dichotomy of an antagonistic church versus a persecuting state. Nor can Chinese Catholics be easily sorted into 'real' Catholics loyal to the pope, following the dominant Catholic tradition, versus Catholics who collaborate with the state" (p. 201).

At least two points accentuate his argument. First, it is my view that the title God Aboveground offers the reader a direct challenge. Reinterpret the modern Chinese Catholic narrative so that the faith of underground Catholic Church members caught in the web of continual post-1949 sufferings be understood in conjunction with their Chinese Catholic counterparts who have openly expressed their faith. Second, the consistent use of the pseudonym "Little Rome" for the Hakka village subtly stretches the reader to regularly contemplate the transnational character of Roman Catholicism. To make his case, Lozada employs anthropology, sociology, theology, and political science—within a large historical context.

The first two chapters explain the investigative style of his Catholic inquiry into Little Rome and an overview of Chinese religious culture à la popular religion, Marian devotions, and Buddhism. Chapter three describes the building, financing, and dedication of the new Catholic Church in Little Rome.

Chapter four offers a general summary of the centuries-old western missionary effort to and in China. Commendable is his observation that Catholics during the chaotic Republican period (1911-1949) found themselves a "target of local nationalism" (p. 78). Yet, how these Chinese Catholics fared under the Nationalist government requires more scholarly research. Did freedoms vary according to time and place throughout China? Did they vary under the local warlords or Communists? In other words, Lozada's passing reference serves as a reminder that the time might be ripe for Chinese and non-Chinese historians to find and consult international histories and archives in order to appreciate and interpret the twentieth-century Chinese Catholic story with the same energy that goes into the analysis of pre-1911 and contemporary Chinese Catholicism.

The last three chapters allow the reader, in a sense, to eat from the same rice bowl of faith and experience with the Chinese Catholics of Little Rome. Rich detail is provided on baptismal ritual, the celebration of Christmas, the marriage wedding ceremony and banquet, funerals, Catholic ancestors, neighborhood socialist road building (Lozada actually contributed money and worked on the road), and the importance of Hakka identity.

Teachers, students, Catholics interested in China, business professionals, tourists, and those who plan to work for extended time or travel to China should welcome this book. It keeps in the forefront the important connection between the Chinese Catholic community, larger Chinese society, and world-wide Catholicism. It may also prove useful as a catalyst for discussion on religion and human rights.