OUTSTANDING CHURCHES OF SHANGHAI

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OUTSTANDING CHURCHES OF SHANGHAI

Picture source:Wikipedia; New Union Church

Among all the Chinese cities, Shanghai is the one to boast the largest number of churches. Although the four centuries of church – building since the Virgin Mary Prayer Hall in 1609 can’t be reckoned as a long history, the numerous churches have constituted one of the most important architectural types of modern Shanghai. A lot of renowned architects from China and abroad have contributed their talent to the design of the churches, leaving a memorable legacy to the city today.

After it was turned into a Treaty Port in 1843, Shanghai quickly became the most important center of the Christian missions in China thanks to its advantageous location and unique socio-economic status, until it came to be the city with the largest number of churches in China, boasting as many as 771 churches for a time. Today there are over 300 churches in Shanghai, both old and new, which undergo constant repairs, maintenance and reconstruction.

In the half a century from 1843 to the end of the 19th century, Shanghai saw the arrival of churches from different countries and religions. The churches ranged from parish cathedrals and regular churches to neighborhood preaching sites and countryside chapels. Over 100 churches were built in this period.

More churches were built in the first quarter of the 20th century than in the entire 19th century in Shanghai, and these churches boast significantly improved qualities and a high level of expertise in design and construction that is admirable even by today’s standards. Most of the surviving historical churches in Shanghai are built or crucially modified/expanded in this period.

LOCATION

The bigger and relatively more important churches in the downtown are usually located at the street corners, often with the bell tower erected independently as a prominent part of the overall design. Medium to small – sized churches tend to be located at roadside, with the central nave perpendicular to the street , so that the gable of the main entrance stands out as the main façade.
Roadside churches can be further divided into 3 types:
#1 Those immediately close to a street
#2 Those with a receding square
#3 Those with a front courtyard (it is a distinctive Chinese characteristic, as Western churches seldom have walls , while Chinese churches usually have walls to separate them from the nearby buildings)

Here's our list of the most unique Shanghai churches we think you should visit!

1.Immaculate Conception Church

Date of construction: 1553
Location: Huangpu District, No. 137 Wutong Road (near Danfeng Road)
Why special ? The Oldest Surviving Church in China.

It is popularly known as ‘the Old Catholic Church’ and ‘Jingyi Church’. ‘Jingyi’ means’ revering the one’. It is the only 17th century church in the classical Chinese architecture and the oldest surviving church in China.
It was originally built as the main hall of the private residence of Pan Yunduan, a high rank Sichuan official and owner of the Yuyuan garden. Legends say that is was ‘equisitely decorated with gilded designs and alabaster carvings’. The wooden house was later acquired and converted into a church by Francesco Brancati, an Italian Jesuit missionary who came to China in 1640, with the support of the granddaughter of Xu Guangqi (Paul Hsu).
The small church – with a floor space of only 200 square meters – is completely a classical Chinese house with a saddle roof, though a Western pediment is added onto the entrance.The interior features Chinese furnishings though the interior decorations like the glass on doors and windows and the altar are distinctly Western.Such eclecticism may result from the social tendency to win over the public in the 17th century.

2.St Francisco Xavier’s Church

Date of construction:1847
Location: 185 Dongjiadu Road (near Wanyu Street)
Why special? The Oldest Surviving Modern Public Building in Shanghai and the only church to feature the Baroque Architecture.
 
Popularly known as Dongjiadu Church. It is located at the edge of what was Shanghai Old Town, next to the former Chinese settlement and used to be a grand church capable of housing an audience of 2,000 and had over 200 rooms as church proper, school, hospital, residence, shops and charity services. Its designer was Br. Juan Ferrer, a Spanish church architect.The original design – an imitation of St.Ignatius’ Cathedral of the Roman Jesuit community – was dropped due to a shortage of funds during the construction, and the church had to adopt a simplified Baroque style.

3.Holy Trinity Cathedral

Date of Construction: 1866
Location: 219 Jiujiang Road (near Middle He’nan St)
Why special? It was the highest – level Protestant church in the Far East and one of the highest buildings on the Bund in the 19th century. It also ranks No.3 in the surviving modern buildings in Shanghai and has been widely recognized as one of the best buildings in the city from the 19th century.
 
Popularly known as the ‘Red Church’. Its history reflects the modern history of Shanghai.Originally built in 1847, the church collapsed in a typhoon in 1862, and a makeshift hut was built on the site for the Masses.Sir George Scott was then asked to design a new church, but the British church architect came up with a design that proved too extravagant for the meager funds, so a Shanghai - based architect William Kidner made modifications to the blueprint.
Construction on the new church began in 1866 and finished in 1869. In 1875, under the endorsement of Queen Victoria and the approval of the Archbishop of Cantenbury, the church was upgraded into the Cathedral of the North China parish of the Anglican Church. Therefore, it has since been referred to as the ‘Anglican Cathedral’. A square , Gothic bell tower with a conical steeple in imitation of the southwestern tower of the Cathedrale de Chartres was built in the northeastern corner of the church in 1893, thus adding the finishing stroke of the church’s Romanesque architecture.

4.Moore Memorial Church

Location: 316 Middle Xizang Road (near Hankou Road)
Date of construction: 1929
Why special: One of the most advanced churches in modern Shanghai and most successful case of the transformation from a Gothic-influenced Romanesque style to the localized style in the waning presence of the Western architecture in the Shanghai churches.

The church was rebuilt three times. It belonged to the U.S. Methodist Episcopal Church 9 Southern and the original house, capable of holding an audience of 150, was built near the Zheng Family Wooden Bridge (now the intersection of Fujian Road M. and Yan’an Road E.) in 1850.
In its current version it features a design by Laszlo Hudec. It has a brick-and-wood structure and a parted cross flor plan with slight variations.
Because of its location in the city center and its services in kindergarten, primary school, evening school, girls’ school, charity, medicine, social welfare and sports, Moore Memorial Church was praised as ‘the city’s social club’.

5.St Joseph’s Church 

Location: 36 South Sichuan Road (near East Jinling Road)
Date of Construction: 1860
Why special? The Oldest Surviving Gothic Church with a Single Bell and it is considered a milestone in the development of the Shanghai churches due to this characteristic design ,that has been copied by hundreds of suburban churches.

It is also known as ‘Yangjingbang Church’ because it is situated at the mouth of Yangjinbang Stream.
Originally at the site was a Zhang Family Ancestral Temple, later used as the bishop’s residence.Louis Charles Nicolas Maximilien de Montigny, the French consul in Shanghai , rented the temple from the Catholic Church and used it as the first French Consulate in Shanghai.Later, a small house was erected there, the first incarnation of St. Jospeh’s Church, finished in 1861 with a design by Louis Helot, a French Jesuit.
In addition to the prevailing Gothic style , St Joseph’s Church also shows some influence of the late Romanesque style represented by the semicircular doors and windows and the semicircular arches.

6.Pure Heart Church

Location:30 Dachang Street (near Kualong Road)
Date of construction: 1923
Why special: The most innovative church in modern Shanghai. It represents one of the most important attempts at localizing the Shanghai churches. Its even - sided L-shaped floor plan has been widely praised as an innovation of the spatial arrangement of the Shanghai churches.

The first U.S. Presbyterian church was established in the home of a Presbyterian priest in 1860.Later, a Pure Heart Academy was built there with a church inside – the first incarnation of the Pure Heart Church. In 1919 the church was rebuilt at a new site on Dachang Road and the construction finished in 1923.
Pure Heart Church owes its innovative design to Li Jinpei, who was one of the Chinese architects educated in the Western ways and well – versed in the Chinese culture in the early 2oth century.

7.New Union Church

Location: 107 South Suzhou Road (near Yuanmingyuan Rd)
Date of Construction:1886
Why Special? The only Waterside Church in Downtown Shanghai.

It is one of the 3 surviving 19th century buildings in the northern Bund area and belongs to the British London Church.
After 1843, Holy Trinity Cathedral in the British Concession was accessbible only to British Anglican Christians, and the great majority of foreigners needed a new comprehensive church.As a result, Union Church was built in Renji Hospital on Shandong Rd in 1864.However, it was pulled down during the expansion of Renji Hospital, the first Western hospital in Shanghai.
Moved to a new site near Suzhou Creek and finished in 1886, New Union Church features a single -level brick-and-wood structure and a design by British architect W.M.Dowdall. Its architecture generally conforms to a late Romanesque style with Gothic influences.

8.St Ignatius Cathedral 

Location: 158 Puxi Road (near North Caoxi Rd)
Date of Construction:1851
Why Special? The Grandest Church in the Far East.

It is the highest and largest church in Shanghai, and the only surviving Gothic church with double bell towers in the city.Due to its grand size, beautiful design , lavish decorations and advanced technology, St. Igantius’ Cathedral had been renowned as ‘Shanghai’s No.1 house” until the completion of the HSBC building on the Bund. In its prime days, St. Ignatius’ Cathedral resided at the center of over 20 Christian institutes in Xujiahui, which commanded Jiangnan Mission and was aptly called “Vatican in the Far East”.

9. Hongde Church

Location: 59 Duolun Rd (near North Sichuan Road)
Date of Construction:1882
Why Special? The only surviving church in the Chinese Classical Revival Style.

It’s the first religious establishment of the U.S.Presbyterian Mission in Shanghai and was founded as Lowrie Memorial Church (in memory of Rev. Walter Macon Lowrie) by a well - known priest Rev.George Field Fitch in the American Presbyterian Mission Press in 1882. It was moved to its present site in Hongkou District in 1925 and opened in 1928 under a new name – Hongde Church.Then it became the center of the U.S. Presbyterian Mission (North) in Shanghai.
The church is a brick-and-concrete structure on a squareplan with its entrance facing south.The house features a Chinese classical revival style, most manifest in its overhanging roof with double eaves.

10. Sacred Heart Church 

Location: 349 Hangzhou Rd (near Ningguo Rd)
Date of Construction:1931
Why Special? The only surviving Hospital Church in Shanghai.

It was built as a part of the former Sacred Heart Hospital , hence its hospital look. Today, the reinforced concrete house is used as the clinic of Yangpu District Senior Citizens’ Hospital. However, the house is still highly reminiscent of a church. An octagonal bell tower in the middle embodies the Gothic architecture, and the side facade features balustrades and arches, which are characteristic of a Romanesque church.

Information source
'Shanghai Church' by Zhou Jin