AN OBJECT OF GRACE AND LOVE
The captivating story of Watchman Nee's mother told in her own words
By Lin Heping. Kingsway. 174 pages. £6.99
ISBN 1 84291 266 0
Autobiographies of Chinese women born in the 19th century are rare. The vast majority had no ac-cess to education and did not leave their homes.
Lin Heping was born into extreme poverty, given away to a concubine in a wealthy family and educated, studying in English for two years. She hoped to join an elite group of Chinese girls pioneering tertiary education in the USA who could bring education and medicine back to Chinese women in the future. It would be ten to 15 years before that would be available within China. But when she finished school in 1898, her mother, frightened of losing her abroad, arranged a marriage for her without her knowledge or consent, and all her dreams of the future lay in ashes. At the age of 18, she was reduced to the unenviable status of daughter-in-law. Her mother ‘lost’ her in the process anyway and this would damage family relationships all her life.