Description
Becoming Chinese is a luminous collection of personal essays that traces one woman’s lifelong journey of identity, faith, and belonging. Structured around the body—from hair to feet—Lauren Lisa Ng reflects on growing up as a second-generation Chinese American, navigating racism, cultural inheritance, and spiritual vocation. With lyrical prose and theological depth, these essays explore what it means to reclaim heritage, listen to ancestral wisdom, and live into wholeness in a world that often fragments identity. This is a book for anyone who has ever lived between worlds and discovered that becoming is sacred work.
Reviews
“As a second-generation Chinese American through my father, and a third-generation Chinese American through my mother, I find that Rev. Dr. Ng's book reflects what many of us Asian Americans experience in the United States, no matter how many generations we have been in this country. The journey from embarrassment to pride, from internalized racism to actively fighting against racism, and from not knowing who we are to embracing who we are, from head to toe, Rev. Dr. Ng has captured the essence of being Asian American in her essays.”
Rev. Kathryn Choy-Wong, Inter-cultural Consultant, author of Building Lasting Bridges
“Written with lyrical nuance and theological agility, Lauren Lisa Ng’s work offers a deeply personal portrait of fully embodying her identity as a Chinese woman in America. Acquainted with the intersectionality of her identity, she adroitly uses the parts of her body to illustrate the trajectory of her lifelong becoming. Perceptively, she integrates the epochs of her life —and that of her ancestors —to render the remarkable character she has become.”
Rev. Molly T. Marshall, PhD, President, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
“Becoming Chinese is a stunning, tender exploration of identity, memory, and belonging, told with rare honesty and luminous detail. Lauren Lisa Ng writes with the kind of clarity that breaks your heart open and then quietly stitches it back together, reminding us that becoming is holy work. This book is both a mirror and a lantern for anyone who has ever tenderly traveled the path of becoming.”
Rev. Zina Jacque, PhD, Chaplain Emeritus, American Baptist Churches USA
“Lauren Lisa Ng writes with detailed factual description and with emotional expressiveness, with familial intimacy and with the broad strokes of history, and with both a self-reflective lens and the perspectives of others. In essence, she explores the yin and yang of her body and her story as she embraces her identity in these pages. I found myself both chuckling and recoiling as I considered the various sentiments and tales she expresses here. I couldn’t put it down!”
Rev. Dr. Sharon T. Koh, Executive Director/CEO, International Ministries
“Growing up in the sea of “white” culture has plagued many a non-white child trying to navigate these often murky waters in America. Lauren Lisa Ng was no exception to this, and she describes her life with incandescent clarity and tenderness in her memoir, Becoming Chinese. Ng invites the reader to journey with her as she embraces and claims her Chinese identity as a gift. Making sense and peace with her heritage may be one of the greatest gifts she has given herself. Like a Kintsugi ceramic pot that is mended with precious metal if broken—a process that makes the pot even more beautiful than it was before—Lauren Lisa Ng has invited us into her life and healing, and that is a beautiful thing.”
Rev. Dr. Cheryl F. Dudley, American Baptist minister
“The body-themed essays of Becoming Chinese feel both like a healing offering to the author herself and a cautiously hopeful reaching toward others. Lauren skillfully weaves shared themes through these deeply personal stories, inviting connection even as she challenges her readers to look beyond our own embodied experiences to hers as a second-generation Chinese American woman. This is a brave and generous book.”
Jennifer L. Sanborn, Director of Development, The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts
“Lauren Ng's beautifully crafted book, Becoming Chinese, narrates her own growth as a Chinese American from head to toe. Set in the context of growing anti-Asian hate, her chapters recall her hybrid upbringing to illuminate the sources and power of her strong advocacy and ministry today. While the chapter titles name her exterior body parts, she writes from the heart and touches ours.”
Russell Jeung, PhD, Professor, Asian American Studies, Co-Founder, Stop AAPI Hate
“For Lauren, finding her roots is an embodied, lived, and tangible experience. Her story is not singular; millions of people, including second- and third-generation migrants, seek to reconnect with their roots, as she does. She might be Chinese American, but I am sure her journey is more universal than many of us might think. Anyone who is in the process of reconnecting with their ancestors will find in this book a companion on the journey.”
Abigaíl Medina Betancourt, National Coordinator for Intercultural Engagement and Associate Director of Creciendo Juntos,
American Baptist Home Mission Societies
“Lauren Ng’s extraordinary book is both intimate and expansive—a sacred meditation on identity, heritage, and becoming. As she traces her own path of self-discovery, she compels us to examine our own stories and embodied histories, from head to toe.”
Dr. Brian Henderson, Executive Director, Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists
“Some say a picture paints a thousand words—Dr. Ng’s lyrical words, from cover to cover, paint a thousand pictures. Becoming Chinese is a vivid invitation into the author’s embodied journey of identify formation, lineage reclamation, cultural negotiation, and social critique that is at once vulnerably intimate and poignantly familiar. Readers can expect to activate heart, soul, and all senses while also learning important pieces of US history and American lived experience.”
Rev. Dr. Marie Onwubuariri, Director, Intercultural Ministries, American Baptist Home Mission Societies
“Becoming by remembering. There is power in reflecting, weaving, and naming things that might seem disjointed in a way to see their connections. This is what Ng does in this beautiful anthology of reflections that represents an embodied identity—an integrated identity where one does not have to live a bifurcated life. This is a powerful read for all who want to enter into a journey of awakening.”
Raymond Chang, President, Asian American Christian Collaborative (AACC) / Executive, TENx10, Fuller Seminary
“Through sinew, sense, and story spanning scalp to soles, Lauren Lisa Ng wields a poet’s linguistic dexterity in Becoming Chinese. At times searing, and always suffused with clarity and grace, Ng’s intimate essays embody the particular and incarnational call to taste and see God’s goodness, to perceive the sacred intermingled amidst the bitter and the sweet. You will carry these stories beyond the last page, like leftovers borne home after a generous meal, to be savored again.”
Rev. Dr. Jamie Washam, Senior Minister of the First Baptist Church in America
“Becoming Chinese by Lauren Lisa Ng is a luminous and courageous collection of essays that tenderly traces the lifelong journey of cultural becoming. With honesty, intelligence, and grace, Ng explores identity, family, faith, and the Asian American experience in a way that is both deeply personal and widely resonant. This book offers a powerful mirror for anyone who has ever lived between worlds and longed to claim every part of their story.”
Rev. Chakravarthy Zadda MSc, PhD, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Waukesha, Wisconsin
“As a fellow minister and public servant, I find Ng’s reflections on faith, ancestral strength, and the "hard-fought peace" of self-reclamation to be an essential balm for our diverse communities. It is a poignant, beautifully crafted call to lead with one's eyes "lifted like lanterns," celebrating the courage required to finally embrace the skin we are in. This memoir is a profound and timely exploration of the intersection between cultural heritage and the American experience, offering a luminous roadmap for anyone navigating the "river" of identity.”
Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins, Executive Director Emeritus, American Baptist Home Mission Societies and Mayor of Collegeville, Pennsylvania
“As a fan of Lauren Ng's wonderful poetry that explores the important terrain of claiming identity, I was delighted to read this lovely collection of brief essays written in service of the same exploration. They are thoughtful, challenging, nostalgic, and, of course, poetic. It is a joy to journey with Lauren on this adventure into the realms of what goes into making us who we are. You won’t be disappointed to share in her wonderment, discoveries, and reflection.”
Rev. Randle R. (Rick) Mixon, PhD, Affiliate Professor of Pastoral Care, Berkeley School of Theology, Berkeley, California
“The Rev. Dr. Lauren Lisa Ng brings voice to the complex nuances of the Asian American identity, weaving in with intentional vulnerability pieces of her own journey and reflections. What is often described as a teetering between two identities, two worlds become a beautiful whole, painted artfully by Lauren's insightful words. A much-needed perspective for Asian Americans and those who want to learn more about the Asian American” experience.
Rev. Michele Turek, National Coordinator for Asian Ministries, American Baptist Home Mission Societies
“In Becoming Chinese, Lauren Lisa Ng offers a courageous and deeply personal exploration of culture, faith, and identity. Her essays are thoughtful, disarming, and profoundly human—an expression of lived theology that invites readers to reflect on their own journeys of belonging and self-discovery. By the time you reach the final pages, you will understand why she is one of my heroes.”
Rev. Thomas L. Bowen, General Secretary, Progressive National Baptist Convention
“Take this opportunity to step for a few moments into the footsteps of this wise soul. Lauren Ng will open a world to you that will enrich your own perspective of the world, or, perhaps as she did for me, articulate a beautiful invitation to recognize myself in her words. You will read this book and remember that the human experience is wildly diverse and best understood when we are accompanied by each other.”
Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, Pastor, Community Church of Honolulu, Founder of Invested Faith