Kulangyu Union Church

Kulangyu Union Church

In the mid-19th century, many Westerners left Europe and America and came to work and live in Gulangyu. Most of these foreigners are devout Christians. In order to hold Sunday worship, they decided to build a church in Gulangyu. As a result, believers from various missions (American Reformed Church, London society and Presbyterian Church) donated money to build churches on the top of Lujiao (also known as shanglujiao) on Gulangyu Island. In 1863, the neoclassical style church was completed, which was called "international chapel". This is the earliest church on Gulangyu.

Historical development

In 1911, the church was rebuilt and renamed "Concorde chapel". In April 1912, the chapel once served as the Xiamen YMCA.

This church is for foreigners to use, Chinese generally do not enter. Of course, some Chinese people who are proficient in English and have a distinguished family background are invited to attend the service. Therefore, the church is also called "Fanzi chapel" by the local people. "Fanzai" is a general term for foreigners in Minnan language. ）Believers who come to church regardless of the boundaries of country and sect come together in the love of God to worship the just and loving creator. Church services are held in English. At 6:00 p.m. every Sunday, the pastors of English and American churches preach in English in turn.

49 years later, the head of the board of directors of Xiehe Church decided to return to China, so he gave the Church (including its assets) to the Chinese Church. After returning to the Church of China, the resident committee of Minnan Congress sent people to take charge of the service. Every Sunday, the service was held, but the number was small. At the end of March 1951, the Minnan garrison committee accepted the joint application of the Chief Executive Council of kulangyu Sanyi church and evangelical church, and entrusted the Xiehe church to the two churches. The party stopped in 1952. After that, Xiehe hall was handed over to the second hospital. In April 1974, due to the need of the development of the second hospital, the church was almost demolished for the construction of the pharmacy room of the second hospital. However, Mr. Bai Jiaxin, the first-class architect of the state, tried his best to build some buildings around the church with the method of seemingly destroying but actually preserving. Although the church was covered by buildings, it was preserved, waiting for the day of seeing the light again.

reopen

In late May 2009, Mr. Gao zhenbi, senior documentary director of "Gulangyu" cultural community, verified an old picture of Western architecture marked "kulangsuu, 1870" in Gulangyu QQ group. Group friend Gong Jian pointed out that it was a church surrounded by the former Gulangyu second hospital. Mr. Gao zhenbi immediately got in touch with Xiamen evening news and Xiamen TV station to introduce the past and present life of union chapel in detail through the media, which caused great repercussions in the society. At the same time, through their own channels, the group members actively appealed to and communicated with the relevant departments and organizations, such as the Gulangyu Management Committee, the three self churches, Xiamen first hospital, in an effort to restore the panorama of the union chapel. In mid June, under the leadership of the Gulangyu Management Committee, the auxiliary building of the nursing home in Gulangyu, which closely surrounds the union chapel, began to be demolished. By the first ten days of July, all the nursing buildings had been demolished and the cleaning of the rubbish on the earth began. The church, which has gone through a hundred years of vicissitudes, has finally returned to the sky.

Address: Lujiao Road (near Catholic Church), Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province

Longitude: 118.072686

Latitude: 24.444176