Royston Lin 林進勇

Royston Lin Academic Assistant Doctoral Candidate   Office: KG IV, Room 4425 Telephone: 0761/203-3418 E-Mail: royston.lin@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de Office Hours: By appointment

Doctoral Project

Introduction of the Veneration of Catholic Saints in the Jesuit Mission in China
between the Sixteenth- and Eighteenth Century

Despite growing academic interest in the history of Catholic missions in China, studies specifically addressing the veneration of Christian saints remain limited. This research project proposes to examine the introduction and proliferation of the Catholic cult of saints by Jesuit missionaries in China between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The study analyses this process through five key dimensions: first, surveying the religious landscape of late imperial China to identify the opportunities and challenges the Jesuits encountered in introducing the veneration of saints; second, investigating how doctrines related the practice of honouring saints were articulated and communicated to Chinese audiences; third, examining the methods used by the Jesuits to preserve the memory of saints within Chinese Catholic communities; fourth, assessing the reception and interpretation of Christian virtues essential to sainthood in the Chinese sociocultural context; and fifth, exploring the devotional practices associated with the veneration of saints that Jesuits introduced in their mission. The project also considers how Chinese individuals – both converts and non-converts – negotiated, adapted, or contested these elements within their own religious and cultural frameworks.

Research Interests

• Christian Missiology
• Late Imperial Chinese History
• History of Religions
• Folk Cultures and Beliefs
• Cross-Cultural Interactions
• Cultural Heritage

Employment

• August 2021 – Present
  Academic Assistant (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter),
  Professorship for East Asian History, Department of History,
  Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
• January 2020 – May 2021
  Manager (Intangible Cultural Heritage),
  Heritage Research and Assessment Division, National Heritage Board, Singapore
• September 2019 – January 2020
  Curatorial Project Manager,
  Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall 孙中山南洋纪念馆, Singapore
• October 2017 – August 2019
  Research Assistant to Prof. Dr Jürgen Osterhammel,
  Modern and Contemporary History, Department of History,
  University of Konstanz, Germany
• April 2017 – August 2019
  Research Assistant to Prof. Dr Sabine Dabringhaus,
  Professorship for East Asian History, Department of History,
  Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
• April 2015 – September 2016
  Manager (Intangible Cultural Heritage),
  Heritage Research and Assessment Division, National Heritage Board, Singapore
• January 2014 – April 2015
  Assistant Manager (Research and Education),
  Preservation of Sites and Monuments Division, National Heritage Board, Singapore

Education

• Since August 2021
  Doctoral Candidate, Doctoral of Philosophy in Modern History,
  Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
• April 2017 – July 2019
  Master of Arts in History (Early Modern Period)
  Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
• October 2011 – April 2012
  Exchange Semester,
  Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany
• August 2009 – December 2013
  Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History,
  National University of Singapore, Singapore

Scholarships and Grants

• August 2017 – August 2019
  Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (Ausländerförderung),
  Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Germany
• October 2011 – April 2012
  NUS Awards for Study Abroad Exchange Scholarship
  National University of Singapore, Singapore

Academic Meetings

• 2 – 4 June 2023
  Forschungskolloquium zur Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit
  (Combined Colloquium for Early Modern History: Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, University of Bern, University of Lucerne)
  Schullandheim des Kepler-Gymnasiums Freiburg im Breisgau, Schauinsland, Germany
• 15 – 16 March 2023
  Balzan-FRIAS Masterclass: The Balzan-FRIAS Project in Global History
  Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, Freiburg, Germany
• 13 – 17 June 2022
  Summer Seminar:: 'The Archives of the Religious Orders and Their Education Institutions: A New Perspective on Global Catholicism'
  Rome, Italy

Selected Publications

• Journal Article: '"Exert Yourselves!" Tianzhu shengjiao sizi jingwen and Giulio Aleni’s Attempt to Perpetuate the Catholic Faith in China.' Monumenta Serica 72 (2) (December 2024): 489-512. https://doi.org/10.1080/02549948.2024.2414664.
• Book Review: Qing qianqi guojia zhili yu minsheng zhengce 清前期国家治理与民生政策 (Policies on Governance and People’s Livelihood in the Early Qing Period), by Chang Jianhua 常建华. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中华书局, 2021. European Research Centre for Chinese Studies. 1 September 2023, https://erccs.hypotheses.org/2036.
• Book Review: Yang, Hongfan, Ite missa est – Ritual Interactions around Mass in Chinese Society (1583–1720) (Studies in the History of Christianity in East Asia, 7), Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2022. Submitted to Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung. Tentative Publication: November 2023.