Communities of Religious Women in China
Srs Baulu Kuan, OSB, Katherine Kraft, OSB, Rita Budig, OSB, Monastery of St Benedict, Minnesota, USA
Preface
The Benedictine Commission for China (BCC) was established in 1996 on the occasion of the Congress of Abbots. Its three objectives are:
• To encourage understanding of China
• To be a resource for finding ways in which Benedictine monasteries can serve the Church inside and outside China
• To find funds to support the Church in China.
I am the only Benedictine sister of the United States informally attending these meetings. I represent religious sisters. The sisters of Tutzing are also represented. I have been the link between China and the West. Every year for the last ten years I have organized a studytrip to further these three objectives. During these journeys we visit historic, religious and educational sites relating to the Benedictines and to the Church in China. We need to improve our knowledge of the past and present of China; we need also to the establish links with the rich Chinese culture.
Since 1993 the Abbey of St John’s Collegeville, Minnesota, together with the Maryknoll missionaries, has contributed in their school of theology for seminarians to initiating Chinese priests and sisters who also take part in monastic life. In the same way, this abbey has sent monks to give courses and organize workshops in some of the major seminaries of China. The office for Catholic China in the United States has received, through St John’s Abbey, a contribution from the AIM to begin the process of translation into Mandarin of basic theological texts and commentaries written in western languages. The team for this project consists of a monk of St John’s, a theologian who teaches at the school of theology and the editor of the Liturgical Press. This action answers a strong desire to help in the translation of theological manuals for sisters, seminarians and priests. Also the Abbey of St Vincent’s, Latrobe, in Pennsylvania, welcomes Chinese priests and seminarians for their studies and sends monks to teach in China.
The German Abbey of St Ottilien has sponsored study-trips for Chinese bishops and priests to the Benedictine monasteries of Europe. It has organized each year discussions on theology and formation and retreats for Chinese leaders of seminaries. It has organized and financed a study-trip to the Holy Land for Chinese spiritual directors of seminaries. A certain number of Camaldolese monasteries of Europe and the United States regularly send monks to China to organize retreats and help in spiritual direction.
A limited help is given to Chinese sisters who of course have the same needs. The community of Benedictine sisters of Taiwan has supported the sisters in China. In the same way, for the last sixteen years Maryknoll has sent a certain number of Chinese religious sisters to the theology school of St John’s. The Chinese sisters are women of deep faith. Although there is an important number of vocations, unfortunately there are few possibilities for teaching and spiritual formation. Let us hope that the communities of Benedictine nuns in Europe will follow the example of the monks and come to the help of religious women in China. Certain communities in China would very willingly welcome a Benedictine sister to teach theology and spirituality. Language is not a problem, for a certain number of sisters in China know English and are capable of translating.
The purpose of this document is to give information on the Church of China and to see what some religious communities are doing to support the Chinese Church, and to ask members of the Conference of Benedictine Superiors to envisage seriously sharing their resources with religious women in China. ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few.’
Introduction
China is an ancient country with a long history, a country originally governed by various dynasties. The era of the dynasties stretched from the Xia Dynasty (2100BC) to the Ch’ing Dynasty (1911). China became a republic with the Nationalist Party Kuomintang. In 1949 a civil war gave birth to the People’s Republic of China, marking the beginning of communism. The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) concluded some thirty years of isolationist policy in China, during which China had been cut off from the rest of the world.
Today China is a country of more than a thousand million inhabitants. It is a country where millions of innocent people have suffered. It is also a land where the people has been able to overcome unimaginable obstacles to prosper and expand, thanks to their hard work, perseverance and wisdom. Today China is also a complex nation. Recent economic and social developments have come rapidly, and the Chinese people is justly proud of their achievement. In China foreign visitors need to pay particular attention to cultural and political differences.
The more Benedictines attempt to make contact with Chinese religious women, the more we discover elements in the teachings of Confucius similar to our Rule. The most important thing in each of our meetings with these women is to listen to them, without prejudice, about everything they have to tell us about their lives and their hopes. We must resist the temptation to identify their needs and propose solutions. On the contrary, we want to enter into dialogue, respecting individualities, ideas and cultural differences. Only with such respectful listening can mutual understanding and appreciation of differences be won. Only in this way can we discover a process of reaching out and of mutual support.
The current situation of religious women in China
The present situation of communities of religious women in China can be understood only if one keeps in mind the complex history and the current situation of the Church in China. It is a Church divided between the official Catholic Church and the clandestine Catholic Church. The communities of religious women are either communities recently established or communities re-founded after being forbidden during the Cultural Revolution. The communities are composed of novices in the religious life, eager to serve the Church, but lacking points of reference in religious life and the patronage of more experienced religious. Nevertheless there remain a few older sisters who had belonged to communities founded by the Franciscans or other international Congregations who had missions in China before the Cultural Revolution. These communities are diocesan, in the care of the local bishop, and were founded or re-founded to respond to local needs.
The work of the sisters is varied: catechism, house-visits, dispensaries, centres for the economically underprivileged, care of the elderly and of orphans, Kindergarten, religious art, vestment-making, publishing, administrative work for bishops or parishes. The resources of the sisters are often limited to subsidies from parishes or dioceses, and sometimes revenues of dispensaries, craftshops and vestment-making. Chinese religious women may have limited resources, but their faith is unshakable. Some of them express a wish to receive more instruction (theological studies, study of the documents of Vatican II, religious and spiritual formation, community life, Canon Law). Certain communities which have the resources send sisters abroad to obtain the degrees of Master or Doctor of Theology or Canon Law. Nevertheless, Chinese sisters have less resources and less chance of formation than Chinese seminarians and priests.
The position of the Catholic Church in China is relatively complex, so that everything said needs to be nuanced and reflected upon. What is the case in one region is not necessarily the case in another. There are sectors where the Church has a certain liberty, and others where it is closely controlled by the government. There are prosperous urban parishes and rural parishes in difficulties, religious and priests well instructed and others who have little access to any instruction. Some seminaries are relatively well provided for in buildings, resources and formation; others have more limited resources. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need in all sectors for books in Chinese, theology, spirituality, biblical studies, Church history, ethics, dogmatic theology, religious life and formation – and qualified professors. In certain cases skill in information technology and access to the internet is also lacking.
There is a feeling that the bishops and priests of the Church in China are walking a tight-rope, calculating the limits while still maintaining dialogue. The Church in China has had to learn to live under a government which feared its power and influence; this is not an easy way to live. It is always impressive to meet people whose faith has remained solid in spite of persecutions, suffering, censure and even attempts at suppression. We cannot but admire such faith and such determination to ‘be the Church’ in such circumstances.
Fundamental Elements of the Religious Life
Note: Some of the tasks habitually done by religious communities are listed below. An examination of them may be a way of entering into dialogue with Chinese religious.
A. History of the community: establishment, origin, charism
• Write or study the history of the beginning of the community and its evolution.
• Identify the women who were present at the foundation and give their story. Interview the elderly sisters on the history of the community.
• Identify the charism of the community in the spirit of Vatican II and later documents relating to religious life: Perfectae Caritatis (1965), Directives on Formation in Religious Institutes (1990) and Vita Consecrata (1996), especially on the consecrated life as a commitment to the message of Christ and the spiritual values of the Gospel.
B. Rule of life and documents of the community
• Study the Rule of life of the community and adapt it in accordance with Perfectae Caritatis, and other Vatican documents on religious life.
• Identify the theological and spiritual foundations of the community rule of life.
• Work out a document describing how the specific elements of the rule should be lived according to its charism and tradition.
• Put in place norms to guide the community in its organization and daily activities.
C. Initial and continuous formation
• Develop a programme of initial and continuous formation, and form sisters responsible for maintaining this programme.
• Maintain a continuous formation in fundamental theology, study of the documents of Vatican II, spirituality, religious life and vows, spiritual direction, community life.
• Form a library for the community (reference and current theology).
• Form the sisters, both in theology and on the professional level, so that they can respond to the needs of their ministry and those of the community.
D. Government of the community, direction and decision-making
• Put in place arrangements for the nomination/election of Superiors of the community.
• Describe the functions and role of people who govern.
• How to arrive at a decision – the roles of Superiors and members of the community.
• Describe the relationship between the community and the local bishop.
E. Finance
• Set up a provisional programme to ensure the financial stability of the community.
• Establish a budget, drawing in the sisters to the planning and responsibility for this budget.
F. Organisation and work
• Identify the main tasks of the community.
• Define, by dialogue, the function and work of each member of the community.
G. Possible means of supporting Chinese religious women
• Propose to send a sister who speaks Chinese and is conversant with the position of the Catholic Church in China to teach or give a formation in various domains. Alternatively, she could also organise retreats for Chinese religious.
• Propose a sister who could perform these tasks with the help of an interpreter.
• Teach Chinese sisters theology through the programmes of formation already in use in China (probably in Chinese seminaries).
• Take part in the teaching of Chinese sisters in the United States or Canada to gain them degrees of Master or Doctor.
• Propose to one Chinese sister (or several) to live in a monastery in the United States or Canada in order to have the experience of life and organisation in community, prayer, liturgy, initial and continuous formation, keeping archives, library, care of the elderly, etc.
• Remain in contact and co-operation with the Benedictine Commission for China, the AIM, Maryknoll and other organisations which have some experience in supporting monasteries and who take part in teaching, formation and also the selection of potential candidates for studying abroad.
• Contact the Conference of Benedictine Sisters of the United States or Canada about helping.
Supplementary Documents
Report on the 2006 Study-Trip to China
After only twenty days in China it is difficult to speak authoritatively about China and the Catholic Church in China. These are the impressions of a foreigner who has had the chance to visit China for twenty days and to enter into dialogue with bishops, priest, seminarians and religious. The journey was made by Sr Baula Kuan, OSB, a member of the Benedictine Commission for China.
The stages of the journey had been carefully planned to appreciate the rich culture of ancient China and its rapid development today. The juxtaposition of the past with the present is all-embracing and sometimes discordant. For example, modern sky-scrapers beside ancient Buddhist temples, the 49,000 taxis of Shanghai jostling rusty rickshaws, five-star hotels up against crumbling shacks, modern shopping-malls next to street-sellers, sophisticated banquets and famished beggars, great universities and lack of basic education, the latest technology and laborious manual work. China is a land of strong and spectacular contrasts. There is not one China but many.
The main purpose of this study-trip was to deepen our knowledge of the Catholic Church in contemporary China by visiting seminaries, convents, seminarians and religious. We met two bishops, Aloysius Jin, SJ, diocesan Bishop of Shanghai, and Mgr Martin Wu, recently nominated diocesan Bishop of Zhou-Zhi. We were invited to four seminaries: the National Catholic seminary of Peking, the Catholic seminary of Jilin, the Catholic seminary of Hebei and the Catholic seminary of She-Shuan at Shanghai. In each seminary we had discussions with the directors and with the seminarians.
For me the high point was my meeting with religious women at Peking, Jilin, Meihekou, Xi’an, Shanghai and Qi-bao. All these sisters belong to diocesan religious communities. A few sisters, more elderly, had belonged to communities founded by the Franciscans or other international Congregations which had had missions in China before the Cultural Revolution. I would like to mention particularly two groups of religious. In one rural area of China five Benedictine sisters, members of the Tutzing Congregation, worked in a hospital, where their activity was limited and controlled. Despite major obstacles they were eager to remain, for they were worried about the poor who had no access to medical care. Each week they drove their mobile medical unit from the city to rural areas to provide free medical care [The sisters left Meihekou in the summer of 2009]. In the team the physiotherapist sister worked out special equipment for handicapped children and children born with cerebral paralysis, the medical sister examined the patients, the assistant medical sister looked after the laboratory, the pharmacist sister handed out medicines and the fifth sister was responsible for the hospital.
In a large urban centre another group of Chinese sisters has recently shown great courage in resisting the local government which wanted to take their property away. One night they were attacked because they had made a public demonstration to protest against this government action. This act of violence was reported in the local and international press, thus putting an end, for the moment, to the confiscation of their property.
All of them expressed the desire and the need to receive more instruction, especially in theology, religious and spiritual formation, as well as in community living. I was able to make a presentation on prayer to the sisters of Peking, but only after receiving authorisation.
The mix of visits to historic sites of the first presence of the church in China and dialogues with members of the contemporary Chinese Church in active parishes helped us to understand what we had seen and heard. Our contacts were limited. Unfortunately we were not able to have contact with the ordinary parishioners although we assisted at the Sunday liturgy in several churches.
Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian, SJ, of Shanghai captivated us when he said, ‘I have lived in China for 91 years, and I still do not know China. China is changing. Do not believe everything you hear about the Church in China, for example that the National Church is unfaithful to the Vatican and the clandestine Church is faithful. Much better, look, listen and dialogue with the members of the Chinese Church. You will know nothing of China if you visit only the great urban centres. Go into the rural areas, where most of the Chinese population live. There life is visibly different from that of Peking, Shanghai and Xian. To be a bishop in China you must be cunning as a snake and simple as a dove’. I well understood that he meant that it was not easy to gain a precise understanding of the Church in China. Rapid generalizations and facile judgments must be avoided. The situation of the Church in China is highly complex. Everything one says must be nuanced and made provisional.
To resume, China and the Church in China are changing rapidly. When we asked the people we met what their aspirations were for the Church, some said they yearned for a Church united and reconciled with the National Church. Others described the longing of many Chinese, particularly among the young, for a deeper understanding of life, combined with a growing interest in religion and spirituality. Still others expressed their disquiet at the rise of consumerism and materialism. Their hopes and preoccupations seemed to be similar to the hopes and preoccupations of the Catholic Church the world over.
We must pray for the Church of China and seriously think of things we could do, teaching philosophy, theology or spirituality in a school or convent, helping in religious formation, organizing a retreat, helping a sister or seminarist to obtain a higher degree, inviting a Chinese sister to live in our community for a prolonged period, translating books into Chinese, working in a hospital or dispensary. We must make use of every chance to get to know China and the Church of China. There is so much richness over there!
Sr Katherine Kraft, OSB
Benedictines in China – a summary
China is an ancient land with a history and civilisation of more than 3,500 years. The ‘Silk Route’ was the first axis of international trade, stretching from the east to the west; it was already functioning in the second century before Christ. Religions played a crucial role on the ‘Silk Route’, centred on the old capital of Xi’an/Chang’an, which means ‘Eternal Peace’. During the golden period of the T’ang Dynasty (618-906) Xi’an/Chang’an was the intellectual and religious centre of China and the home of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity and Islam. From 638 onwards missionaries from Assyria brought Christianity to China. In this period the pagoda of Dagin, the first Chinese Christian church, built like a Buddhist pagoda, was constructed. A commemorative pillar stands in front of this building.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century the Franciscans and Dominicans took part in the evangelization of China. A diocese was established in the province of Fujian. The Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrived in Macao in 1582, and established houses in Peking, Shanghai, Nanking and elsewhere.
Members of the Society of the Divine Word arrived at Shantung in the south in 1882, followed by the Maryknoll missionaries, who established themselves in Guangdong, in the south of China, at the beginning of the twentieth century. At the request of Chinese Catholic intellectuals, Pope Pius IX invited the American Benedictines to establish the first Catholic university at Peking in 1922. The monastery of St Vincent’s, Latrobe, responded to the Pope’s request in 1924, setting up a university and a monastic community at Peking. In 1929 the Abbey of St John’s Collegeville, in Minnesota, sent three monks to teach there. Other American abbeys did the same. In 1930 the monastery of St Benedict, at St Joseph in Minnesota, was invited to found a university for women at Peking, the University of Fu Yen; six sisters were designated. Two years later they opened the first Catholic university for women in China. Several Benedictine abbeys and convents contributed financially and spiritually to the development of this enterprise.
In 1883 the Trappists of the Abbey of Tamié in France arrived at Yang Kai Ping in the Chaher (Inner Mongolia) to found the monastery of Our Lady of Consolation. In 1928 they founded another monastery, Our Lady of Joy, at Tchengtingfu, near the town of Shijiazhuang, the capital of the province of Hebei. When the building of the monastery was complete, with the help of workers from the village, the monastery gave to these workers a nearby plot of land so that they would be able to build their own houses. They called the village St Benedict (Bendu Chun). Most of them became Catholics and have remained attached to Benedictine values to this day.
The Abbey of St Ottilien in Bavaria began a mission in the north-east of China at the beginning of the 1920s. An abbey and a diocese were established at Yenki/Yenji in the province of Jilin. In the mid 1990s a hospital at the service of the destitute was opened at Meihekou in Jilin. The international Congregation of the Sisters of Tutzing in Germany provided personnel and later created a country hospital to provide medical care for people in distant rural areas. In the same region, in the little agricultural sector of Kouquian, the church of the Holy Cross was built. Recently the construction of a school for professional formation and a house for the elderly have been begun, at the same time as a little church at Meihekou for the local parish community. In 1926 the Abbey of Saint-André in Belgium opened the seminary in the quarter of Xi Shan (Mountain of the West) at Nanchong in the province of Sichuan; later it was to be moved to Chengdu. The Benedictines used to teach at Sichuan at the University and at the Academy of Fine Art.
The annual study-trip of Benedictines in China has been organized by the Benedictine Commission for China to encourage a better understanding of China, to be a support for the Church in China and to raise funds for China. In this way China and the countries of the West co-operate for the mission of the Church in China. The main purpose of the study-trip, which is an integral part of the BCC, is to inform the participants about ancient Chinese culture and the role of the Benedictines during this period. The journey makes visits to historical, religious and educational sites linked to the Benedictines and the Church of China. It is the best way to understand the past and the present of China, and to set up channels for the comprehension and appreciation of the rich Chinese culture. The visits have led to the discovery in big cities and a few distant villages of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhist temples and monasteries and museums. Monasticism in China is not something new!
The annual trip is now in its tenth year. Normally 10-15 participants from all over the world are invited. It includes monks, sisters, seminarians, oblates and teachers. The sites of the trip are selected in function of the purpose and the chosen subjects of the BCC. The trip occurs at the beginning of summer, and lasts, depending on the sites and activities, two or three weeks. On this tenth trip we were able to visit:
• Peking, the capital of China, where we had the chance to visit the University of Fu Yen and the Prince’s Garden, accompanied by those responsible for the Association of Past Students of that university. They expressed their gratitude for the Catholic teaching they had received from the monks at Fu Yen.
• The town of Jilin. Located in the north-east of China, it is known for its dockyards and aeronautical building. The study-group admired the gothic cathedral built by the Dutch missionaries. At the seminary of Jilin we had an exchange about the Church with the priests and seminarians, who were avid for knowledge. Near the cathedral the Sisters of the Holy Family run a house for the elderly and a traditional Chinese dispensary. We were impressed by the sisters’ gift for traditional Chinese painting and embroidery of ceremonial silk vestments, activities which attract many buyers.
• Meihekou: snuggled into a small town south of Jilin we found the emergency hospital of Meihekou. It is staffed by the Tutzing Sisters in co-operation with the administration of the town. We were especially impressed by their efforts and their commitment to serving the needy in a rural area by means of the weekly tour of their mobile clinic. Since they arrived the town has significantly developed, with paved streets, the construction of hotels and a business centre.
• At Kouqian we celebrated the Eucharist with the parishioners in the fine church built in the Bauhaus style. In the courtyard there is a statute of St Benedict carved by local artists.
• Shijiazhuang is the capital of the province of Lui-Bei, and the place of an old Trappist monastery. At the present time there is a newly-built church, surrounded by the Catholic seminary of Lui- Bei, founded in 1984. It is one of the very first seminaries of China, where there is a very great number of vocations. A few cells of the old Trappist monastery are still preserved, and the Latin inscriptions on the tombs of the first monks are still visible. One of the most interesting encounters we had at Shijiazhuang was our visit to the little village of St Benedict or Benu Chun. The Benedictines were delighted to see us, and took us into their chapel to thank God and to bless us.
• At Hengshui, a small town near Shijiazhuang, the bishop, Mgr Peter Feng, who had studied at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, invited us to visit the town. Before arriving at the cathedral precincts we were able to hear the distant sound of drums and cymbals. The welcoming villagers surrounded us and conducted us dancing to the cathedral. Recently the Benedictine sisters of Taiwan have helped to found a small retreat-centre in a nearby rural area.
• X’ian is the ancient capital of the T’ang Dynasty in central China. The study-trip regularly visits the celebrated seventh-century Nestorian Pagoda of the Temple Lo-Guan-Tai, located on the mountain. There Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, is thought to have learnt the Tao, the ‘Way of Life’, in the fifth century before Christ. We visited a certain number of holy places and observed the monks and nuns praying in these places of pilgrimage and tourism.
• Nanchong, Xi-Shan (Western Mountain), near Chengdu: the superior of the church and the choirs of the cathedral welcomed us with joy. The monastery and the seminary built in traditional Chinese architectural style are opposite and below the city. The story of the Benedictines of Belgium and the United States is described in a little commemorative gallery. In the front courtyard stands a colossal stone statue of St Benedict. All along the mountain, carved in relief, the work of local artists is to be seen. The sisters and the monks have depicted the life of Christ from his birth to his resurrection. There are also the fourteen Stations of the Way of the Cross. The two Benedictine foundersuperiors, who arrived in 1927, are buried there, with large commemorative tombstones. The last of the Belgian Benedictine monks, P. Eleutherius Winance, OSB, founder member of the Chinese monastery, died at the age of 100 on the 15th August, 2009, at the Abbey of St Andrew of Valyermo in California, to which the community had been transferred from China.
• Chengdu, capital of the province of Sichuan is a university centre of arts, literature and history. The study-group visited the recently-renovated cathedral. The Benedictine monks of St Andrew of Xi-Shan have there built a new monastery/seminary near the cathedral. At the moment the government of the province is in the course of making administrative arrangements. The university has an exceptional museum including an exhibition of Christian, Buddhist and Taoist art.
• Shanghai is the financial hub of commerce. The former Jesuit centre was in the cathedral of Xujiahui. We made a special visit to the bishop, Mgr Aloysius Jin Luxian. At the beginning of the 1980s Shanghai had no single church open for worship, but today there are 145 Catholic churches open for prayer. The seminary is at the foot of the hill Sheshan. The basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan is on the top of the hill, and is a popular pilgrimage-destination for the whole of Asia.
The Catholic Church in China
Since the beginning of the 1980s the People’s Republic of China has continued to forge contacts and respond to overtures made by the international community in political, social, cultural, economic and other sectors, including the religious milieu. Many sectors of society in the United States have been newly engaged with China and the Chinese people, who are facing the challenges of modernisation in the third Christian millennium.
Since the end of the 1980s the enormous increase, both of institutions and of communities in the Christian Churches has been, for most, a surprising discovery. The Chinese Catholic Church, having been cut off from all relations with the universal Church for fifty years, was not able to receive exact or reliable information. Since 1949 the Catholic Church, while continuing to struggle on its own with its internal divisions caused by political governmental pressure, has seen the number of its faithful triple. In the last fifteen years a great interest has been felt in vocations to religious life and to the priesthood. In intellectual circles interest in Christianity is expanding, as is shown by the establishment of Departments of Religious Studies in many of the large Chinese universities.
In spite of the harassment of believers of every culture – which varies according to the date and the region – statistics for the Chinese Catholic Church showed in 2004 the courageous efforts of Chinese Catholics to reconstitute and renew their Church, both as an institution and as a community of faith. In the tradition of a long missionary relationship between Chinese and American Catholics, it is important that the Church of the United States be made aware of the events. It is important also that it grasp the new missionary opportunity to work with China as sister- Churches to witness to the gospel in the 21st century.
Statistics for Catholic China
Number of churches: more than 5,000
Number of diocese: 138
Bishops:
Official Church: 70
Clandestine Church: 50
Priests:
Official Church: 1,400
Clandestine Church: 1,100
Religious Sisters:
Official Church: 1,500
Clandestine Church: 1,000
Seminaries:
Official Church: 24
Clandestine Church: 10
Seminarians:
Official Church: 1,600
Clandestine Church: 800
Novitiates of Religious Sisters:
Official Church: 40
Clandestine Church: 20
Novices of religious Sisters:
Official Church: 1,500
Clandestine Church: 1,000
Sources
The Catholic Church in China (American Bureau for Catholic China, 1999).
Fox, Thomas C. Chinese Catholics search for their identity in troubled times (National Catholic Reporter, 29th January, 1999, p. 11).
Charbonnier, Jean (ed.) Guide to the Catholic Church in China (Singapore, Bestprint, Co., 1997).
Centre of the Holy Spirit, Hong-Kong, 1999.
Tang, Edmond and Wiest, Jean Paul The Catholic Church in Modern China (Maryknoll, N.Y., Orbis Books, 1993).
Interviews with Chinese sisters of the convents of Beijing, Xian, Nanchun, Wuhan, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai, by Sr Baulu Kuan, OSB, 1999-2000.