The Church of the Saviour (西什庫天主堂) in Beijing is a witness to the difficult relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese State, despite the former’s many contributions to science and establishment of eleemosynary institutions in the latter.
The first visit to China by a Catholic missionary was in response to repeated invitations by the Yuan emperor, Kublai Khan忽必烈, who ruled confidently at the height of the empire.[1]
The first church in the capital (then called Khanbaliq 汗八里) was built soon thereafter, in 1299; the first Archbishop of Beijing was appointed in 1307. But collapse of the dynasty ended that effort.
Matteo Ricci arrived three centuries later during the late Ming Dynasty. His indigenization and accommodation approach was immensely successful, helped also by missionaries bringing modern science to China.
His legacy survived dynastic change, and Catholics were welcomed and protected by the Qing Emperor Kangxi (康熙) at the height of the empire. When missionaries cured his malaria in 1693 while court physicians and traditional medicines failed, Kangxi gifted land and funds for a church, the predecessor of the Church of the Saviour.[2]
But all that came to naught after the Rites Controversy (禮儀之爭), due partly to internecine struggles. The Catholics were expelled; I wrote a modern coda to that fiasco.[3]
With the decline of the Qing dynasty, a difficult period of perceived grievances followed, with episodic calamity. During the Cultural Revolution, the Church was confiscated and turned into an electronics factory; I attended many meetings there in the aftermath.
The physical church has been restored, and is now a declared monument, but historical problems persist, not yet resolved by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 letter to the flock. RIP
[1] Kublai Khan sent two emissaries, both of whom met the Pope. Very detailed first hand account of the second by Rabban Bar Sauma: The Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China : medieval travels from China through Central Asia to Persia and beyond translated by E. A. Wallis Budge (1996).
[2] Very detailed first hand account of curing Kangxi’s malady by French missionaries: Lettres Édifiantes Et Curieuses, Vol. 7: Écrites des Missions Étrangers, par Quelques Missionnaires de la Compagnie de Jesus (1708), pp217ff.
在地方政府堅持下,特別是女皇銅像揭幕後公眾中心雛形出現,倫敦也品味出其合理性乃至重要性,不復堅持己見,尤其在香港法院地位被抬升後[13]。Webb遂在設計圖上揮手一劃定稿,把東改為西,”EAST ELEVATION built with minor changes as WEST ELEVATION”, 皆大歡喜,進入漫長的建設階段,1912年一月竣工。
“The building is a large and commodious private residence, and there is not a historical capital in Europe which cannot show a more imposing Royal palace.”──第七世威靈頓公爵1931年評語。
這也是所謂滙豐銀行擁有無敵海景的背景,也是日後考驗法治的一個指標。
1883年港督寶雲就向倫敦建議緊急蓋新的中央市場,坦誠認為原有的丟人現眼(”The present Central Market is a disgrace to any British city”)。
Snowden: “I need scarcely remark that the whole building which was created originally for the purposes of Commercial Rooms is unsuited to the requirements of a Court and is a disgrace to the Colony.” 這是指租用皇后大道中7號的Dent大廈;Dent破產後購入。法院樓下有住宅,也有其他政府部門和私人機構;1848年前則在雲咸街威靈頓街交接處。期間還因各種維修工程,多次暫用其他處所。
參看https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1894_Hong_Kong_plague。也造就香港對世界的又一貢獻:鼠疫的病源Yersinia pestis是在香港發現,以發現者Yersin命名。港府處理鼠疫的手段,鬧到清廷,李鴻章要介入,也驚動倫敦,過程涉及改變民風、行賄達義,見:Moira Chan-Yeung, A Medical History of Hong Kong 1842-1941 (Hong Kong, 2018), pp 134-152。從管治角度,勝利剋服這場瘟疫所采取的醫療衛生措施和收地賠償手段,還確定了西醫和法治在港的地位。是的,同時掀起一場厠所革命。
這是1895年中日戰爭清廷大敗後涉及香港的三方面後續發展。 其一是1898年租讓新界,香港進入待回歸99年。 其二是日本佔領東北北洋海師大本營旅順港後進行屠殺,為國際社會所不容,1898年被迫讓出交由俄國管理,而爲平衡列强勢力,對岸的山東威海衛,在俄國管理旅順期間,交由英國管理。英國遂規定威海衛可沿用香港的法律,香港最高法院享終審權。Wei-Hai-Wei Order in Council, 24 July 1901, sec 2: ”Supreme Court means His Majesty’s Supreme Court for Hongkong.”和sec. 9(2): “Under this Article any of the Laws and Ordinances of Hongkong may be applied to the said territories with such modifications and, adaptations as circumstances may require.” (https://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/items/show/1031) 其三是英國在威海扶植的山東籍警察,先是鎮壓義和團,繼而分批調往香港鎮壓海員罷工和監督本地以及在港的印裔警察。這就是香港警隊享特殊待遇的“D組山東差“的來源。
立法會有關終審庭搬回原最高法院大樓的評估報告有誤。報告援引的資料顛倒了Webb修葺白金漢宮和設計最高法院大樓的時序。“[Webb & Bell] had jointly designed a number of famous British Buildings including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the façade of Buckingham Palace”,立法會 CB(4)47/12-13(01)號文件。