Local access dig.pdf. [Martinez Esquivel-Confinamiento.pdf]

This is a study of the economic and financial history of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris) in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong (formerly known as Canton) from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. It examines how missionaries acquired and utilized local properties, demonstrating how property acquisitions provided a testing ground for Sino-Western relations. While historians have typically focused on the ways that missionaries affected Chinese populations and policies, I instead argue that living and attempting to gain influence in Guangdong altered missionaries' tactics and strategies in ways that had far-reaching consequences. The government of China (which over the course of my study changed from an empire to a republic) consistently attempted to restrict foreign missions' right to purchase Chinese properties. I show that, by indigenizing its property acquisition methods the French Catholic mission in Guangdong was able to accumulate a large quantity of properties both in urban and rural areas, but doing so required negotiating with authorities and commoners, and assistance from both Chinese converts and French authorities. As a result, the Guangzhou French Catholic mission's economic activities were intertwined with both local society and high level diplomacy.

Local access. dig.pdf. [Xiang-French Mission Guangzhou.pdf]

"Spatial expansion, planning, and their influences on the urban landscape of Christian churches in Canton" / Li Yonggu

This article belongs to the Special Issue of

"Chinese Christianity: From Society to Culture," Religions 16

Abstract:

Canton (present-day Guangzhou, China) has a long history as a trading port and serves as a window for studying the history of Sino-Western cultural exchanges. Canton was a city built under Confucian orders, leading to significant differences (when compared to Christian cities) in urban functional zoning, layout, urban landscape, and methods for shaping spatial order. Therefore, the churches constructed by Christian missionary societies in Canton merit particular attention in missionary history research and urban planning history. Based on local gazetteers, historical maps, export paintings, Western travelogues, and archives at that time, from a cultural landscape perspective, this article compares and analyzes the spatial expansion of Christian churches and their influences on the urban landscape in Canton in two stages. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the spatial layout of the churches indicated an active integration into Canton City. After the Opium War, churches were not only used for religious purposes but also served as symbols asserting the presence of Christians and Western powers (which made the situation more complicated). Missionary societies attracted believers through the construction of public facilities, building Christian communities centered around churches, thereby competing with authorities for spatial power and influencing the urban functional system and spatial layout controlled by the authorities. Comparatively, the Roman Catholic Cathedral has profoundly changed the traditional landscape order in Canton, while the Protestant Dongshan Church interacted more closely with the city.