The cathedral is the oldest church in Peking. Originally built by the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci as a small chapel at his residence, in 1650 under the supervision of the German Jesuit missionary Adam Schall von Bell who was serving at the time as Director of the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy and the Calendar, this little site was expanded to become the first large church of Peking. On the church grounds, in addition to the cathedral, there was originally also an astronomical observatory and a library.

Peking was raised to the level of a Diocese in 1690. The first Bishop, Bernardin della Chiesa, chose the South Church as his cathedral.
In 1703 the church was completely renovated in the European style, but soon afterwards it was destroyed by two earthquakes (1720 and  1730) and by a disastrous fire (1775). Each time the cathedral was destroyed, the then reigning Emperorors (Kangxi, Yongzhen and Qianlong) provided funds for its reconstruction.

After the church was closed in 1838 by the Emperor Daoguang, it was reopened after the Second Opiuim War in 1860, although the See of the Bishop was moved to the North Church.  

On June 14, 1900 the Boxers burned the church down to the ground. Once again it was rebuilt in the same style in 1904. This last reconstruction is the existing church which we can admire today.
Once more the church became the Bishop’s See when Bishop Yao Guangyu became the first independently selected and consecrated Bishop of the Diocese.

During the cultural revolution (1966-1976) the church was closed, but in 1979 it was officially reopened once again, although as far back as 1971 the celebration of Masses had been resumed for foreign diplomats, visitors and Overseas Chinese.

The new Bishop of the Diocese of Beijing, Li Shan, plans to transfer the See of the Bishop once more to the North Church. 

The so-called East Church, the second oldest church of Peking, was built by the Portuguese Jesuit missionaries Louis Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães.  
In 1720 the church was destroyed by an earthquake, but was rebuilt the following year. Unfortunately, however, the paintings of the famous Jesuit Castiglione were too badly damaged to be restored.

A fire destroyed the church in 1807. The missionaries had decided to transport their valuable books to a more secure location. In order to avoid unwanted attention, they carried out the work at night. When someone accidentally knocked over a lit oil lamp, the residence burned down to the foundations, and the church was destroyed as well. In the hope that the Emperor would contribute to the rebuilding of the church, the priests turned to the Imperial Court. But rather than help, the Emperor Jiaging ordered that the church compound and all of the buildings standing on it be confiscated. The church was altogether destroyed and finally given up as lost for good.

When in 1860, at the conclusion of the Second Opium War, church property was finally handed back again, the only thing that remained standing of the East Church was the entrance gate of the wall which once had enclosed the compound. 

Temporary buildings were put up to serve as chapel and residence until 1884, when Bishop Louis Gabriel Delaplace had a new church built in the Romanesque style.

However, after only ten years the newly built church was once again burned to the ground, this time by the “Boxers” during the course of their uprising. In 1904 the present church was built to replace the one that had been destroyed.
The church was closed on Aug. 21, 1966, at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, and it was only reopened for religious activity in 1980. During the intervening years it had been transformed into an elementary school.
As a part of the beautification and the transformation of Wangfujing Street into a pedestrian zone in 2000, the church was completely renovated and since that time has once again been resplendent in renewed beauty.

Address
Wangfujing Dajie 74, Dongcheng District

Mass Schedule
Sundays: 6:15, 7:00 and 8:00 (Chinese), 16:00 (English)
Weekdays: 6:30 and 7:00 (Chinese)

The North Church is one of the largest and oldest churches of Peking and was for a time the Bishop’s See in the capital.

Originally the church stood on the West bank of the Canchikou Lake. The terrain was given to the Jesuits in 1693 by Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722) as a sign of gratitude after the Jesuit Jean-Francois Gerbillion, had cured him of malaria, among other things. As a sign of thanks, the Emperor presented to the Jesuits a ceremonial scroll with the inscription: “The True Source of all Things”. The building of the church took four years. It was consecrated on Dec. 9, 1703. After the Society of Jesus had been dissolved by the Pope in 1773, the Vincentians (Lazarists) took over the running of the so-called “French Mission”.

In 1827 the North Church was confiscated by a decree of the Emperor Daoguang, and the plot of land on which the church stood was sold to a Court official by the name of Yu, who had the church torn down. Emperor Xianfeng returned the property to the Church once again in 1860, and six years later a new and bigger church was standing on the site.