Daughter of China

Daughter of China is the story of Mei Lin, a young girl living in China who hopes to become a teacher one day.  Mei Lin is also a Christian, which is a dangerous thing to be if you are Chinese.  Mei Lin and her father have to travel in secret to visit house churches and share fellowship with the other Christians in their village.  Mei Lin's faith soon leads to a terrifying situation - she is caught sharing her faith and is sent to prison.

Mei Lin not only learns to trust God's plan for her life while in prison, but she leads several other inmates to Christ through miraculous circumstances.  Mei Lin is eventually released and meets a young girl who has run away from an orphanage and is living on the streets.

If you are a Christian, I don't think you will be able to read this book without making connections between your faith and Mei Lin's.  I had known before reading the story that Christianity is not accepted in China, but I did not realize how persecuted the church really is.  We are so blessed to live in a nation where we can freely share our faith.  The author also shares a lot of other situations that are going on in China, such as encouraged abortions for parents expecting their 2nd child, the possible inhumane conditions in orphanages, and more.

Although a fiction story, I read online that the author based her characters from real people who have had similar experiences.  I think the characters could have been more developed; it almost seemed as if there was so much information to share about China and the persecuted church that the author didn't tell many details about most of the characters.  However, this is a very eye-opening book!

Rating:  I would give this book a 4 out of 5.