Sacred Heart Church, Chuansha

Sacred Heart Church stands inside the old walled town of Chuansha (川沙, Chuānshā) and is the best-preserved Gothic church in this part of Pudong. A Chuansha county gazetteer called its hall the grandest of any church in Pudong, and a plaque inside the gate spells out why: pointed arches, red-and-grey brickwork and a single bell tower.

How old is the church?

The first church here dates to 1872, built by the French priest Kang Zhitai (康治泰) and called Jesus’s Main Heart Church (耶稣主心堂). A priest named Fei Zhihou (费致后) had tried to build in the town in 1856 on the site of a God of Wealth temple, but the plan failed. Between 1907 and 1910 the church was rebuilt under the parish priest Zhu Ximan (朱西满). The building you see now was started in May 1926 and finished that December; at its dedication on 10 December it took its present name.

Who paid for the 1926 hall?

The sources give two names. The Pudong gazetteer says a believer named Yu Lan (郁兰) donated 30,000 taels of silver. The introduction board at the church says Yu Qisheng (郁岂生) from Haimen, a relative of the parish priest Huang Chongtang (黄重棠), paid. The board and gazetteer agree on the winter of 1926.

What kind of building is it?

The board describes a Latin-cross plan, with a basilica-style hall under a Gothic front. The single bell tower rises above the entrance and ends in a pointed spire; below it a balustrade of vase-shaped balusters runs along the flat roofs. The walls are exposed brick laid in red and grey, and every door and window has a pointed arch. Inside, clustered columns carry ribbed arches made of lath and plaster, the floor is laid with patterned tile, and the window glass is painted with figures, flowers and words. The gazetteer adds that the tower once held three bronze bells and that the statues came from France. The hall covers 576 square metres within a 5,040 square metre site.

What happened to it after 1966?

The interior was badly damaged in the Cultural Revolution, and the buildings were taken for other uses. The diocese got the church back in 1981 and reopened it at Christmas 1982. In 2002 the hall was listed as a district-level cultural relic.

What to look for

From Zhongshi Street, look first for the tower and its spire, then the red-and-grey bands of brick. Count the pointed arches over the doors and windows. If the church is open, look up at the ribbed arches and down at the patterned floor, then at the painted window glass.