Our Lady Queen of China Cathedral

Back when I was living in Tainan I made an effort to check out many of the temples I encounter in my daily travels around town. One day after breakfast, while riding along Kāishān Road (開山路), I stopped to check out what looked to be yet another temple across the street from the Koxinga Shrine (延平郡王祠). I was surprised to learn that despite the palatial Chinese architecture and seemingly traditional style of design this is a Catholic church, officially Our Lady Queen of China Cathedral (中華聖母主教座堂). Built in 1963, it is the top-ranking church in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tainan (天主教台南教區). The name is derived from Our Lady of China (中華聖母), an apparition of Mary that took place during the Boxer Rebellion (義和團運動) in China in 1900.

Date CapturedApril 17th, 2014 at 06:10 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 8Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO100Exposure Value14.0 EVOriginal Size1800 × 1200

Religion in Taiwan is highly syncretic—people tend to blend Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese¹ folk traditions in their daily practices without a second thought. It isn’t at all unusual to see gods of different faiths housed in the same temple, for instance, something that you’d not ordinarily see in any Christian church. My impression of Christianity has long been that it is relatively less interested in mixing it up with other faiths—but more recently I realized this is probably a product of my upbringing in Canada, where Protestantism is the norm. Catholicism seems much more amenable to adapting to local customs and aesthetics. Wander around the cathedral and you will encounter many representations of Mary, mother of Jesus—only with East Asian features.

Date CapturedApril 17th, 2014 at 06:10 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 5Shutter Speed1/100 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO400Exposure Value11.3 EVOriginal Size1920 × 1280

Date CapturedFebruary 8th, 2017 at 07:26 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 6.3Shutter Speed1/100 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO200Exposure Value12.0 EVOriginal Size1800 × 1200

Date CapturedFebruary 8th, 2017 at 07:30 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 10Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO200Exposure Value14.6 EVOriginal Size1800 × 1200

It certainly feels like the designers of this church made an attempt to adapt to local customs to better reach the populate. However you view it, and regardless of whether you’re at all interested in Christianity, this cathedral makes for a rather unusual stopover in one of the most interesting parts of Tainan!

Footnotes

1. It is worth noting that several distinct but interrelated words are translated into English as “China”: the modern state of China as well as a cultural or ethnic China or Zhōnghuá (中華), which is what you’ll find in the name of the cathedral and the apparition of Mary. ↩