shanghai-old-cathedral

The Shanghai Old Cathedral is the oldest church in Shanghai.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a famous Chinese scientist, Xu Guangqi, who was a Shanghai native, took an important position in the government then. As the most reputable person in Shanghai, he was baptized in Nanjing and became a Catholic in 1603. Then, the number of people who followed him and believed in Catholicism increased rapidly in Shanghai.

Subsequently, the adherents in Shanghai built a Catholic church near Xu Guangqi's residence. Guo Jujing, the first missionary to Shanghai, served as the priest. Due to their eminent contribution of the calendar compilation for the government, a plaque which reads Emperor Praise the Holy Catholic was awarded to the missionaries by the emperor, and it was hung in the church in 1622. The descendants of Xu Guangqi cooperated with foreign missionaries to build a Catholic church in 1633, which was called the Old Cathedral afterwards.

Besides the chapel, there is an observatory for observing celestial phenomena and doing astronomical research. Because the government banned Catholicism in 1724, the chapel of the Old Cathedral was built into a temple for Guan Yu (an ancient hero of China), and observatory was renovated into the Jingye College.

One hundred years later, the government agreed to return all the lands of the Old Cathedral to Catholicism. French Catholic Church rebuilt the church at the original address and named it the Jingyi Church, but people still call it the Old Cathedral.