Research Catalog

China Gothic : the bishop of Beijing and his cathedral

Title
China Gothic : the bishop of Beijing and his cathedral / Anthony E. Clark ; foreword by Leland M. Roth.
Author
Clark, Anthony E.
Publication
Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2019]

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library NA2543.N38 C59 2019Off-site

Details

Additional Authors
Roth, Leland M.
Description
xxiv, 216 pages; 24 cm
Summary
As China struggled to redefine itself at the turn of the twentieth century, nationalism, religion, and material culture intertwined in revealing ways. This phenomenon is evident in the twin biographies of North China's leading Catholic bishop of the time, Alphonse Favier (1837-1905), and the Beitang cathedral, epicenter of the Roman Catholic mission in China through incarnations that began in 1701. After its relocation and reconstruction under Favier's supervision, the cathedral-and Favier-miraculously survived a two-month siege in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. Featuring a French Gothic Revival design augmented by Chinese dragon-shaped gargoyles, marble balustrades in the style of Daoist and Buddhist temples, and other Chinese aesthetic flourishes, Beitang remains an icon of Sino-Western interaction.0Anthony Clark draws on archival materials from the Vatican and collections in France, Italy, China, Poland, and the United States to trace the prominent role of French architecture in introducing Western culture and Catholicism to China. A principal device was the aesthetic imagined by the Gothic Revival movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the premier example of this in China being the Beitang cathedral. Bishop Favier's biography is a lens through which to examine Western missionaries' role in colonial endeavors and their complex relationship with the Chinese communities in which they lived and worked.
Subject
  • Favier, Alphonse, 1837-1905
  • Xishiku Cathedral (Beijing, China)
  • Catholic Church > China > Bishops > Biography
  • Catholic Church > Missions > History. > China > Beijing
  • Catholic Church
  • Nationalism and architecture > China > Beijing
  • Architecture, French > China > Beijing
  • Gothic revival (Architecture) > China > Beijing
  • RELIGION / Christianity / Catholic
  • Architecture, French
  • Bishops
  • Gothic revival (Architecture)
  • Missions
  • Nationalism and architecture
  • China
  • China > Beijing
Genre/Form
  • Biographies.
  • History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
The civilizing mission : a French church on Chinese soil -- The fruits of diplomacy : building a genteel empire -- Competing shadows : Beijing's first North Church -- China Gothic : Alphonse Favier's North Church -- The contours of reconstruction : Favier and the French mission.
Call Number
NA2543.N38
ISBN
  • 9780295746678
  • 029574667X
LCCN
  • 2019018140
  • 40029737119
OCLC
  • on1097365693
  • 1097365693
  • SCSB-14615693
Owning Institutions
Columbia University Libraries