All Saints Church ( zh, s=诸圣堂, p=Zhūshèng táng) is a

Protestant Christian Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible sourc ...

place of worship in

Huangpu, Shanghai Huangpu District () makes up the eastern part of Shanghai's traditional urban core and is today the most central of Shanghai's 16 districts. Huangpu district is the seat of municipal government, includes key attractions such as The Bund and the ...

, China. Originally founded as an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in 1925, it joined general Protestant worship in 1958. It was closed during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, but was reopened in 1982. The only surviving

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

church building in the city, it is listed as one of the Featured Historical Buildings of Shanghai.

History

In 1915, Cameron Farquhar McRae, a missionary of the Episcopal Church, purchased a house in the

Shanghai French Concession The Shanghai French Concession was a concessions in China, foreign concession in Shanghai, Republic of China (1912–1949), China from 1849 until 1943. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the ...

as his preaching station. In 1919, Bishop

Frederick Graves Frederick Rogers Graves (Chinese name: ; October 23, 1858 – May 17, 1940) was an American missionary to China and was the longest serving bishop in China. Graves succeeded William Jones Boone (son), William Jones Boone to serve as the fifth mi ...

purchased the land that the church currently occupies and built the first church building. The current church building was planned by McRae and Wang Xiaokui (), and was completed and consecrated on Christmas Day in 1925. It was under the administration of the

Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui (CHSKH, zh, t=中華聖公會), known in English as the Holy Catholic Church in China or Anglican-Episcopal Province of China, was the Anglican Church in China from 1912 until about 1958, when it ceased operations. Hist ...

(the Anglican Church in China, abbr. CHSKH). On 1 November 1927, Chen Yong'en was consecrated was consecrated as assistant bishop of Fukien at the church. On 9 June 1934, Shen Zigao was consecrated as bishop of Shensi at the church. Shen was the first Anglican diocesan bishop of Chinese origin. In 1949, the church had 633 baptised and 387 confirmed congregants. The pastors at the time were Wei Xiben () and Peng Shengyong (). During the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Protestant churches in Shanghai started to practice

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

joint worship () since 1958, and All Saints was designated as the joint worship location in

Luwan District Luwan District (; Shanghainese: lu1uae1 chiu1, pinyin: Lúwān Qū; formerly romanized as Lokawei) was a district located in central Shanghai, until its merger with Huangpu District in June 2011. It had an area of and population of 350,000 as ...

. The church was closed during the

, and was reopened in 1982. About 3,400 people were baptised at the church from 1983 to 1994. Since 1985, a special worship service for individuals with blindness on the fourth Sunday of every month. By December 1998, the church had a congregation of 6,200 on record. The church was renovated in 2009 and in 2014.

Architecture

The church was built in the Anglican high church style of the 17th century, and it is the only surviving

church in Shanghai. It is in basilica form and is made of

red brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

s. There is a square tower at the north-west corner of the church. The church faces west. At the front of the church, there is a

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...

with three arched doorways separated by

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

. Above the narthex there is a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

. The main sanctuary consists of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

in the middle and two aisles on the sides, and the roof is supported by five timber frames. There are two smaller chapels at the ends of the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

. In 2009, ground stakes were added to improve the church's structural integrity, and paint was removed inside the sanctuary. In 2014, an Anglican-style

church tabernacle A tabernacle or a sacrament house is a fixed, locked box in which the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, Eucharist (consecrated communion hosts) is stored as part of the "reserved sacrament" rite (Christianity), rite. A container for the same p ...

was installed, and the pulpit is moved to the side of the

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

according to Anglican customs. The 2014 improvements were focused on returning the church interior to the original state in 1925, using an early photograph found in 2011 as reference. The church has an area of . The main sanctuary has a capacity of 500 people, while the chapel and the church annex can host 1,000 people. It is listed as one of the Featured Historical Buildings of Shanghai ().

Gallery

File:All Saints' Church, Shanghai.jpg, The church seen from Middle Fuxing Road File:All saints shanghai 2.jpg, The side view of the church, showing Neo-Romanesque windows File:All saints shanghai 3.jpg, The plaque of the church, displaying its name in Chinese "諸聖堂" File:All saints shanghai 4.jpg, The tower of the church with a cross on top

References

Citations

Newspapers

Dissertations

Books

* * * {{cite book , isbn=9789888208388 , title=Christian Encounters with Chinese Culture: Essays on Anglican and Episcopal History in China , editor-first=Philip L. , editor-last=Wickeri , year=2015 , doi=10.5790/hongkong/9789888208388.001.0001 , publisher=Hong Kong University Press

External links

Official website
(in Chinese) by the Government of Huangpu Former Anglican churches in China Churches completed in 1925 Churches in Shanghai Romanesque Revival church buildings in China 1925 establishments in Shanghai Three-Self Patriotic Movement 20th-century Anglican church buildings in China