Articles by Mary Li Ma
Mary Li Ma (MA Li) holds a PhD in sociology from Cornell University.
Currently a research fellow at the Henry Institute of Christianity and Public Life at Calvin University, Dr. Ma and her husband LI Jin have coauthored articles, book chapters, and are the authors of Surviving the State, Remaking the Church: A Sociological Portrait of Christians in Mainland China. They have guest edited several issues of the ChinaSource Quarterly.
Dr. Ma is also the author of The Chinese Exodus: A Theology of Migration, Urbanism and Alienation in Contemporary China, Religious Entrepreneurism in China's Urban House Churches: The Rise and Fall of Early Rain Reformed Presbyterian Church, and 通往阿斯兰的国度：C.S.路易斯《纳尼亚传奇》导读, a theological guide to C.S.Lewis’s Narnia series in the Chinese language.
Dr. Ma is a columnist on social and economic issues for Caixin.com and blogs at Theology and Society.
View From the Wall
Faith Going Public
Urban Christians and Civic Participation in China
The authors review the origins and history of the house church movement then go on to discuss the current urban house church situation including civic engagement and Christian publications.
Supporting Article
Educational Inequality for Migrant Children Perpetuates Poverty
Even after thirty years of economic reform, the majority of rural migrants in China's cities are still kept out of the formal labor market and professional tracks. Most of them pick up jobs in the informal sector. Such social inequality is likely to be perpetuated given the fact that their second generation is not provided with quality education. In China, education, often considered a way of changing one's life trajectory, now only reproduces social status and reinforces class boundaries.