Rejuvenation after encounters between different artistic forms: a synopsis of studies of indigenization of Christian art in China

Abstract

Religion and art are symbiotic. The ecumenical propagation of Christianity inherently entails a mission of indigenization. Since it spread to China, Christianity has produced many renovated art forms which combined indigenization and local artistic expression on the one hand, with original religious notions and Western art on the other. This article reviews Chinese scholarship on the indigenization of Christianity in modern China and emphasizes that the renovated Chinese architecture, music, and fine art, after integrating with religious ideas and techniques, largely promoted the modern transformation and rejuvenation of traditional Chinese art.

Keywords:

• Christianity
• art forms
• Chinese indigenization

Notes

¹ Gu Weimin, Zhongguo jidu zongjiao yishushi.

² Dong Li, “Lingnan jindai jidu jiaotang”; and Dong Li and Du Cheng, “Qing mo jiaotang jianzhu.”

³ Xu Min, “Zhongguo jindai jidu zongjiao”; and Li Xiaodan and Zhang Wei, “16–18 shiji Zhongguo jidujiao.”

⁴ Wang Li and Zhang Weijun, “Zhongxi wenhua jiaorong xia de Yan’an”; Wang Li, “Zhongxi jianzhu wenhua jiaorong xia de Shaanbei”; Li Rong and Lu Dan, “Yunnan shaoshu minzu”; Gao Caixia and Tian Qi, “Zhongxi jianzhu wenhua”; and Xu Zheng and Chen Zecheng, “Rushi jingshen de chushi jianzhu.”

⁵ Zhu Huiwen, “Guangzhou jidu xinjiao jiaotang”; and Yang Haozhong and Chen Xin, “Xi’an jidujiao wenhua jianzhu.”

⁶ Dong Li, Zhongguo jiaohui daxue; Dong Li and Yang Wenying, “Cong zhezhong zhuyi dao fugu zhuyi”; Dong Li, “Jiaohui daxue jianzhu”; and Wang Xiaoqian, “Yizhi he bentuhua de erchongzou.”

⁷ Zhang Fuhe, “Zhongguo jidu jiaotang jianzhu”; and Yang Bingde, “Guanyu Zhongguo jindai jianzhushi shiqi.”

⁸ Ji Zong’an, “Ming Qing zhiji ru hua yesuhuishi.”

⁹ Zhao Xiaonan, “Minzu yinyue”; Nan Hongyan, “Neimenggu zhong xi bu”; Nan Hongyan, “Bentuhua”; Nan Hongyan, “Hu Ning Hang diqu”; and Chu Zhuo and Tan Jingtuan, “Guangxi tianzhujiao misa yishi.”

¹⁰ Gong Hongyu, “Jidujiao chuanjiaoshi yu Zhongguo.”

¹¹ Gong Hongyu, “Jidujiao xinjiao chuanjiaoshi.”

¹² Gong Hongyu, “Chuanjiaoshi yu wan Qing shi de zhongxi yinyue jiaoliu.”

¹³ Gong Hongyu, “Jidujiao chuanjiaoshi yu wan Qing Zhongguo.”

¹⁴ Some other research articles written by Gong Hongyu on this topic include “Yang Yinliu de chuanjiaoshi laoshi” and “Chuanjiaoshi yu Zhongguo yinyue.”

¹⁵ Yuan Yu, “Yanjing daxue yinyuexi.”

¹⁶ Nan Hongyan, “Minguo shiqi Hu Ning Hang diqu”; Jin Shiyu, “Woguo jindai jiaohui xuexiao”; and Meng Weiping, “Beijing lishi shang de jiaohui xuexiao.”

¹⁷ Qin Xu, “Yang Yinliu xiansheng”; Tian Qing, “Yang Yinliu yu Zhongguo”; Kong Peipei, “Yang Yinliu zhu Zhongguo yinyue shigang”; Wang Mingfeng and Liu Xinhong, “Minzu yinyuexue de zongshi”; Lin Miao, “Chongshi Yang Yinliu”; and Zhai Fengjian, “Yang Yinliu.”

¹⁸ Relevant publications by Yang Minkang are: Bentuhua yu xiandaixing; “Yunnan shaoshu minzu jidujiao yinyue”, “Yunnan Nujiang”; “Yunnan shaoshu minzu jidujiao zanmeishi”; and “Yunnan shaoshu minzu jidujiao yishi yinyue.”

¹⁹ Guan Jie, “Jidu zongjiao yinyue yu Harbin”; and Xu Fenglin, “Dongzhengjiao yinyue qianshi.”

²⁰ Yang Boda, “Shiba shiji zhongxi wenhua jiaoliu.”

²¹ Xu Beihong, “Zhongguo xin yishu yundong.”

²² Li Chao, “Tushanwan huaguan”; Li Chao, “Xiaoshi de yaolan”; and Chu Xiaobai, “Tushanwan huaguan”; “Lingting ku’nan.”

²³ Yan Fei, “Chen Yuandu.”

²⁴ Pollard, Zai weizhi de Zhongguo, 762.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xiaoyang Zhao

ZHAO Xiaoyang is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. Her main research fields include Chinese Christian history and modern Chinese socioeconomic history. Dr Zhao has published The YMCA in China: A Quest to Indigenize and Modernize (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2008). She has also published many research articles in leading journals, such as Modern Chinese History Studies, The Qing History Journal, Historiography Quarterly, Studies in World Religion, Religious Studies, Economic Science, Economic Perspectives, Contemporary China History Studies, The Journal of Studies of Communist Party History, Journal of Modern Chinese History, and Chinese Studies in History (USA). Currently Dr Zhao is focusing on a study of Chinese versions of the Bible.