Text: | Print|

Church served as focal point of life

2014-07-08 14:15 Shanghai Daily Web Editor: Wang Yuxia
1

Shanghai Community Church first opened in 1925, just opposite the Shanghai American School that opened a few years earlier. With a church and a school, the area soon became attractive to American families.

The church, mainly American since its founding, became famous for its choir. As the British and American communities in Shanghai became distant because of World War I, a group of Americans started a choir on Sunday afternoons, first at members' homes, later at hotels and then the Masonic Hall.

The gathering soon became very popular and gained nearly 400 members. Three years later, they started building "an American style" church, and in 1925, the first hall was finished. It held 700 people.

Intended to be a community center from the very beginning, the church was designed to contain various public facilities including a games room, a living room, a ball room, a club house and an outdoor tennis court.

The entire plan was never completed, but the church was expanded a few times, from the original hall to a children's area on the second floor and a chapel on the third floor. It soon became an American landmark in the city.

Four kinds of people were the main visitors to the church — American merchants, missionaries of different religious sects, Shanghai American School student and visiting sailors and tourists. It served as a spiritual homeland for those far away from home.

After 1949, it was handed over to Chinese pastors, but was closed in 1966 during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). The church opened again in 1980 and is now still up and running.

Comments (0)
Most popular in 24h
  Archived Content
Media partners:

Copyright ©1999-2018 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.