St John's Church, Chengdu

St John's Church, Chengdu
Shangxiang Christian Church
聖約翰堂
Map
Location20 Shangxiang Street, Qingyang District, Chengdu, Sichuan
CountryChina
DenominationThree-Self Church (Protestant)
Previous denominationAnglican
ChurchmanshipLow church evangelical
History
StatusChurch
Founded1909
Founder(s)William Cassels
A H Wilkinson
DedicationJohn the Evangelist
Past bishop(s)William Cassels
John Holden (first bishop of West Szechwan)
Architecture
Functional statusActive
StyleNeo-Gothic
Minimalist
Administration
ProvinceChina (formerly)
DioceseSzechwan (formerly)
West Szechwan (formerly; since 1936)

St John's Church,[a] today known as Shangxiang Christian Church,[b] is a Protestant church situated on Shangxiang Street in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Founded in 1909, the church had been the seat of the Anglican Bishop of West Szechwan, practically making it the cathedral of this bishopric.[1] It has been subjected to the control of the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Church since 1954.

History

At the close of 1891, the Rev J H Horsburgh of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) of Church of England, along with other missionaries, entered Sichuan as the first band of CMS missionaries to take up work in that province, and later in charge of the western district of Sichuan.[2]

The Diocese of Western China was established in 1895, and William Cassels, one of the Cambridge Seven, became the first diocesan bishop, ordained by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Edward White Benson).[3] In 1909, Cassels purchased a land near Xishuncheng Street, in Chengdu, for building the Fu Jen School. After the school's closure in 1926, a chapel was added to the building, and a second storey added in 1939. The building had completed its conversion from a school into a church, and renamed St John's.[4]

The church was bombed in World War II. In 1946, the plan of building a large chapel in front of the church was unsuccessful, but it was restored and communal worship services resumed shortly after.[5] In 1954, the communist government established the 'self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation' Three-Self Patriotic Church, Christian Churches in China were forced to sever their ties with respective overseas Churches, which has thus led to the merging of St John's into Three-Self Church.

In 1992, the church was demolished, in order to support a street extension project. Reconstruction was completed in 2011. The new church is built in the fusion of neo-Gothic and Minimalist architectural styles, and is the largest Protestant church building in Chengdu.[5]

  • Exterior of St John's
    Exterior of St John's
  • Interior of St John's
    Interior of St John's
  • Museum of Protestantism, former Bishop's House
    Museum of Protestantism, former Bishop's House

See also

Notes

  1. ^ traditional Chinese: 聖約翰堂; simplified Chinese: 圣约翰堂; pinyin: Shèngyuēhàn táng; Wade–Giles: Shêng4-yüeh1-han4 tʽang2; Sichuanese romanization: Shen4 Io5 Han4 Tʽang2.
  2. ^ Chinese: 上翔堂; pinyin: Shàngxiáng táng; Sichuanese romanization: Shang4 Siang2 Tʽang2.

References

  1. ^ "Shangxiang Protestant Church of Chengdu". mzzj.chengdu.gov.cn. 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ Norris, Frank L. (1908). "Chapter X. The Church in Western China". Handbooks of English Church Expansion: China. Oxford: A. R. Mowbray.
  3. ^ Gray, G. F. S. (1996). Anglicans in China: A History of the Zhonghua Shenggong Hui (Chung Hua Sheng Kung Huei). New Haven, CT: Episcopal China Mission History Project. p. 14. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.695.4591.
  4. ^ John (10 April 2019). "剑桥七杰之一：四川圣约翰堂首任主教盖士利传" [One of the Cambridge Seven: An Introduction to William Cassels, the First Bishop of St John's Cathedral in Sichuan]. christiantimes.cn (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  5. ^ a b "成都目前最大基督教堂上翔堂 由"剑桥七杰"之一盖士利所建" [Shangxiang Church, the Largest Christian Church in Chengdu, Built by Cassels, one of the 'Cambridge Seven']. gospeltimes.cn (in Simplified Chinese). 9 August 2015. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.