Attending Catholic Mass in Shanghai

Yesterday being Sunday, I researched online whether/where there were Catholic churches in and around Shanghai. I found several, but one was particularly convenient from my apartment next to People's Square, at the Xujiahui metro stop. This was the St. Ignatius Cathedral of Shanghai. Here's a photo of the front of the church:



You can actually find my contribution to Google Maps that pinpoints the location of this church by searching on maps.google.com for "xujiahui catholic church puxi road, shanghai" (if there's an option, be sure to include User-Created content which will search my travel places).

I would have been on time but I was a little lost after exiting the metro stop at Xujiahui, so I had to backtrack a little before coming across the church. With the high number of tall and wide buildings throughout Shanghai, it's difficult to just arrive somewhere and know where your destination is, even if it is a famous landmark.

The 10:00am Mass yesterday was celebrated in Mandarin. It seems that St. Ignatius does not offer weekly services conducted in English, although a church in the south-east part of the city does do so. I will try to go there next week, if I can find the right bus to take in the morning.

As for St. Ignatius, although the Mass was conducted in Mandarin, there was an opportunity for English-speakers to follow along some parts. The readings appeared on TV screens throughout the cathedral, which in a split-screen presented both the Mandarin that was read and also the English translation. However, the homily did not have any translation, so I had to do the best that I could with the Mandarin that I have. From a purely linguistic standpoint, I think that going to Mass here would be an excellent way to reinforce my Mandarin studies because not only is the speech and oratory delivered as clearly as possible, but there is the possibility of following along with the characters on the screens. I was even able to sing a teeny, tiny bit in Mandarin because all the song lyrics appeared on-screen as well, and I exited the church armed with some new characters and words to look up as soon as I arrived back home.

Now, how does Christianity or Catholicism proliferate in a country such as China?

When I was researching churches online, I came across one comment that warned would-be Mass-goers to bring their passport along with them, ostensibly because only foreigners could practice a religion such as Catholicism within China. I did bring my passport but no one checked it when I visited St. Ignatius. Inside the church, I noted that the Mass was being predominantly celebrated by the Chinese. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether these are ex-patriots from other countries or if they are native Chinese citizens, but I did not sense any restrictions or threat of restrictions on the celebration of the Catholic Mass. The only aspect of the visit that was slightly anomalous was that there was no photography permitted of the outside of the church. I did sneak in a couple photos, and of course no one can regulate photography from a long ways away, but to not be able to photograph the church from inside the gate was a little strange and I'm not sure why this was the case.

Inside, I did find clues as to how the Catholic church may employ a type of strategy to connect to the decidedly different belief system not only of China, but of Asia in general. Please read this small explanatory note which appears under each stained glass window of the cathedral:



Here is the type of stained glass window that might appear throughout St. Ignatius Cathedral:



And so I also took details from the elements that the small explanatory text described. Here is the narrated Biblical scene:



Along with some text:



... and finally, up top, a connected symbol from traditional Chinese art:



(My apologies that all of these are not necessarily from the same window, but are provided to be illustrative only.)

The model of connecting the Christian church with Chinese tradition is interesting and I wonder to what degree (and with what success) there has been an intentional effort, and for how long, of integrating elements of Christianity to the constant cultural education that the Chinese receive as they grow up, live and work within China. I also wonder what new understanding is brought to the Christian narratives in the mind of a Chinese person through the connection with traditional imagery, and whether this dilutes or strengthens the original message as interpreted by Rome (in the case of Catholicism). And, more interestingly, if the Christian narrative and Chinese traditional imagery are tightly correlated, what does this say about the role of religion and culture in society?

This does remind me a little bit of a paper that I wrote in French in the spring of 2005 while studying in Paris. The course dealt with the history of Southeast Asia and my paper, "Les missions Catholiques au Tonkin," treated the theme of how (and perhaps why) a religious mission can or would access the people of a completely foreign culture. I'll post the paper separately for anyone interested; I myself am reminded that I should read it before my trip to Vietnam in January!