Western Religious Architectures in China

The earliest evidence of the spread of Christianity in China was first recorded in a stone tablet unearth in the Ming Dynasty in Xi an. In it, it traced the spread of Chiristianity to the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Taizong in 635. At that time, Emperor Taizong adopted an open policy towards culture, which attracted the flow of culture from the diverse ethnicity in China as well as from the foreign countries.

This receptive policy provided and excellent opportunity for the spread of Christianity in to China. The Christian churches built during that period were oriental in their architectural style, and was called a temple in accordance to local Chinese custom.

From the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, Christianity went into oblivion in China. During the period of Yuan, it went through a period of revival and the Christian churches built during that time adopted China s traditional architectural model, with the exception of their interior.

During the Ming and the Qing dynasties, the view towards Christianity was rather erratic. At time, the government was rather relaxed with it, at other times, completely banned. Before it was banned in during the reign of Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty, the spread of the religion was very much progressive.

The Catholic Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrived in Guangzhou in 1583 and he assumed the role of the president of China s Society of Jesus in 1596. Other Jesuit missionaries soon followed and arrived in China. The earliest Christian churches congregated in residences, temples or simple buildings that were of traditional Chinese style and decorated in westerns tyle, with a simple crucifix as added as a symbol.

Later on, some western missionaries decieded to work on their own designs, and Christian churches began to take shpe within China as a foreign architecture style brought in from the West.

After 1860, under the unequal treaties signed with foreign nations, the missionaries obtained the rights to spread the Christian faith throughout the whole of China. From then on, Christian missionaries surged into China. During this period, the missionaries took on the role of conquerors as they entered into territories that were once forbidden to them.

Unlike the missionaries during the times of Matteo Ricci, who believed in striking a harmonizing balance between Christianity to revolutionize China s culture. Reflected in the Christian churches-mainly replicas of the Western churches-in China at that time was the eclecticism in architecture common to the historical period between the end of the 19th century to the early 20th century.

Given that Catholics are more conservative, the architecture of the Catholic churches does not take on too many variations. On the other hand, the protestant churches and the eastern orthodox churches are more varied in the architectural style of their churches. In general, churches in China were mainly influence by the following models.

The earliest churches in China usually adopted this architectural style. in Shanghai, Dongjiadu Cathedral-originally named St. Xavier Cathedral-built between 1847 and 1853 is the earliest Roman-Spanish baroque style church that is till in existence. It was named after the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier, who passed away shortly before he had the chance to set foot in China.

Yangjingbang Cathedral, known also as Church of St. Joseph, located at South Sichuan Road in the French settlement, was built between 1860 and 1861. It is a classical French-Roman style Catholic church adorned with an eye-catching stained-glass wall.

China s Catholic and protestant churches commonly adopted the Gothic style in their architecture and design. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Guangzhou, known also as the Stone House, built between 1863 and 1888, is one the most typical and meticulously constructed Gothic-style Catholic churches in China.

Its steeple, which measures 58.5 in height, is the tallest amongst all the churches in China. The most outstanding of Gothic-style churches found in China would be none other than the largest Catholic church in Shanghai, Xujiahui Cathedral, or St. Ignatius Cathedral. On the sides of the mian entrance are two towering belfries, and the interior of the church boasts a gothic-style framework.

The loftiness and harmonizing colors of the church bring out the majestic of God s holiness, and it is no question when it is being hailed as the Quthority Figure of China s Churches . Also worth mentioning is Shanghai s earliest Christian church that is still in existence, the Holy Trinity Church-or the Red Church as it is known for its red bricks.

It is modeled against British-Gothic style churches and is partially influenced by the Roman style.

In China, there are also a number of churches that are modeled against the Renaissance and Baroque styles. Along Zhejiang Road in Qingdao, the Catholic Church-originally named St. Emile Church-had adopted Gothicism and Romanesque and is of the neo-Romanism, a typical reflection of eclecticism in architecture. Located at a commanding point in the city center on West Haishan Hill with its pair of imposting bell towers, the church is an important structure in the city s spatial composition, as well as a popular focus of the cityscape of Qingdao.

Harbin is a city that boasts the most number of Orthodox churches in China and they were greatly influenced by Russian churches. Russian architecture is known for its fine craftsmanship and the use of gauged bricks for the walls and for other decorative elements in the building. The distinctive feature of Byzantine architecture is most apparent in Harbin s St.

Sophia Church, built in 1907. The main structure of the church is laid out as a Latin Cross, and underneath its center vault are four brick buttresses supporting a circular base that measures 10 meters in diameter. On top of the circular base is a huge onion-shaped dome. And on each of the four octagonal bell towers is a tipped roof-topped with an onion-shaped dome.

The bell towers vary in height in order to give prominence to the main entrance of the church.

The Christian missionaries penetrated deep into China s major cities and rural vellages in their quest to spread Christianity, bringing into China the influence of Western architecture as well. Other than the major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, many Western style churches can be found in rural villages that are more creative in terms of their architecture.

Very often, Chinese traditional architecture structure such as pagodas, roofs, archways and decorated inner gates are blended in with Western architectural elements found in churches, such as bell towers, domes, columns, vault, rose windows and crucifix. This east-west fusion resulted in a vivid and interesting architecture model that has become a bridge between the East and the West in China s modern history.

In order to attract more converts, the missionaries were also actively involved in various cultural enterprises in cities like Shanghai, Nanjing, Tianjin, Beijing and Guangzhou, etc., such as the translations of books, the setting up of newspapers, and the founding of mission schools. They were also involved in charity works in setting up hospitals, orphanages and other charitable organizations.

All these activities took place for a period of a few hundred years. Among all these works of the missionaries, the establishment of schools and hospital took on the most significant in architectural scale. The buildings of hospitals and schools were modeled against Western classicism, Eclecticism, as well as a blend of Eastern and Western elements or simply Chinese style .

The earliest school building that displays the blend of East and West in its architecture is Shanghai s St. John s University s Schereschewsky Hall and other buildings in the campus. (St. John s University is the current campus of East China University of Politics and Law). The main structure of the university building is basically western style, and the only Chinese element is found in the roofs of the various buildings that are modeled against the roofs found in Jiangnan provinces.

China s nationalism movement, which took place in the early 20th century, did not bring too much impact on the style adopted in building churches. Instead, it brought about the trend of exploring China s ethnic architecture style in the building of mission schools and hospitals. After the 1920s, more mission universities and hospitals took roots in China.

They include Beijing s Yanjing University (today s Peking University), Nanjing s Jinling University(today s Nanjing University) and Jinling Women s University (today s Nanjing Normal university campus), Guanzhou s Lingnan University (today s Sun Yat-sen University) and Beijing s Union Hospital. These college buildings and hospitals fully exemplify western architects knowledge and understanding of China s traditional architecture, as well as their grasp of the constituent in applying western architectural design methods in rendering Chinese traditional architecture (mainly for the roof).

Even though the trials undertaken by these architects were built on architectural models based on western ideologies, but the legacy they left behind brings enlightenment to the many Chinese architects that continue to make mew discoveries in the same field.

source: Chinese Architecture, published by China International Press