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Full-Text Articles in Asian History
China Gothic: Indigenous' Church Design In Late-Imperial Beijing, Anthony E. Clark
China Gothic: Indigenous' Church Design In Late-Imperial Beijing, Anthony E. Clark
History Faculty Scholarship
In 1887 the French ecclesiastic-cum-architect, Bishop Alphonse Favier, negotiated the construction of Beijing’s most extravagant church, the North Church cathedral, located near the Forbidden City. China was then under a semi-colonial occupation of missionaries and diplomats, and Favier was an icon of France’s mission civilisatrice. For missionaries such as Favier, Gothic church design represented the inherent caractère Français expected to “civilize” the Chinese empire. Having secured funds from the imperial court to build his ambitious Gothic cathedral, the French bishop enlisted local builders to realize his architectural vision, which consisted of Gothic arches, exaggerated finials, and a rose widow with …
Hagiography & Historicity: Li Wenyu's Quanhuo Ji Account Of The 1900 Siege Of Beitang, Anthony E. Clark
Hagiography & Historicity: Li Wenyu's Quanhuo Ji Account Of The 1900 Siege Of Beitang, Anthony E. Clark
History Faculty Scholarship
By 1879 the Shanghai Jesuit, Li Wenyu, SJ, 李問漁 (1840-1911) had distinguished himself as one of Shanghai’s leading writers and editors; he had established both Yiwenlu, 益聞錄 Shanghai’s third newspaper, and the Gezhixinbao, 格致新報 the area’s most popular scientific journal. Less famous, though habitually consulted by historians of China’s turbulent Boxer era (1898-1900), was his protracted and hagiographic narrative of Boxer violence, the Quanhuoji 拳禍記. Li’s meticulous collection of witness testimonies and documentary materials recounting Boxer incidents remains an often-cited source in present historical research; this paper examines the historical reliability of his Quanhuoji, first published in 1905. Careful scrutiny …