2014/01/01 by Thomas Coomans · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Religious Tourism and Spaces #Chinese history and philosophy #China #Architecture #Style (visual arts) #Christianity #Architectural style #Civilization #Baroque #Western culture #Treaty #History #Ancient history #Art #Visual arts #Archaeology #Law #Political science
paper · doi:10.1057/9781137353658_8
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Building churches in China—from the treaty ports to remote villages of the interior—was a concrete act making Christianity physically present in the public space. Choosing a particular architectural style, therefore, was a crucial issue to the missionaries, who interacted daily with Chinese people and local interests. Church builders could not only select precise references in a wide range of Western styles (Gothic, Romanesque, Baroque, Classic, Eclectic, and more), but also hybridize Chinese and Western forms, building types, construction techniques, and ornamentation. After the massive destruction of churches during the Boxer Uprising in 1900, discussed in Part 1, most new churches adopted a triumphant Gothic style that, at that time, was considered the best expression of “Christian Civilization.” These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.