Christ's Church, Shangcheng District

Christ's Church, Shangcheng District (Chinese: 上城区基督教堂), locally known as Sicheng Christian Church (思澄堂), is a Protestant church located in Shangcheng District of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Christ's Church, Shangcheng District
上城区基督教堂
Christ's Church, Shangcheng District in 2015
Christ's Church, Shangcheng District Location in Zhejiang
30°15′24″N 120°10′46″E
Location	Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Denomination	Protestantism
History
Status	Church
Founded	1864 (1864)
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Church building
Groundbreaking	1924
Completed	1927 (reconstruction)
Specifications
Floor area	3,000-square-metre (32,000 sq ft)
Materials	Granite, bricks
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	上城区基督教堂
Traditional Chinese	上城區基督教堂
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shàngchéngqū Jīdūjiàotáng
Sicheng Christian Church
Chinese	思澄堂
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sīchéng Táng

History

In 1859, the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America sent John Livingstone Nevius from Ningbo to Hangzhou to preach. The church was originally built by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America with the help of Zhang Chengzhai (张澄斋) in November 1864. Four years later, Zhang Chengzhai, a Chinese believer and co-founder of the church, was proposed as its first pastor. As the number of believers increased, the management decided to purchase land to prepare for the new church building. Zhang's son, Zhang Baoqing (张葆卿), donated 10,000 silver dollars and the church raised another 50,000 silver dollars. Reconstruction began in 1924 and were completed in 1927. It was put into use in 1930.

The church was closed during the ten-year Cultural Revolution. And was occupied by the Hangzhou Library. On 30 August 1981, it was officially reopened to the public. At the end of 1983, Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie came to visit. In December 2013, it was designated as a municipal cultural relic preservation organ by the Hangzhou government.

Gallery

Christ's Church, Shangcheng District

Entrance

Entrance

Staircase

Interior

Interior

Beam frame

Beam frame

Beam frame

External links

• Official website (in Chinese)

Further reading

• Weihong, Luo (1 May 2014). 中国基督教（新教）史 [History of Protestantism in China] (in Chinese). Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House. ISBN 9787208121324.