Yongning
This afternoon's adventure took us driving from Changping, past many of the Ming Tombs, up into Yanqing County (which is still technically Beijing) in search of the so-described "Ancient Village" of Yongning (永宁). Our road lead us through twists and hair-pin turns through the mountains north of Changping. Just as we thought we were lost about an hour after we left Changping, we were suddenly turning off the road into the old part of Yongning.
This bell-tower stood in the middle of the town. Somewhat recently restored, brass bells hung at the corners rang in the wind. Against the blue sky it looked magnificent.
Once again, we didn't have too much information about this town, but clearly, it has been traditionally a market center. The streets were lined mostly with farmers selling the most gorgeous produce (if Yongning weren't so far away I'd never step foot in one of our local grocers again) as well as merchants selling the usual Chinese-sold-on-the-street products, like socks and barrettes. The manner in which this town was recently restored, as well, hinted to us a prosperous past.
The road was paved, maybe not in gold, but in money-shapes, right down the center.
And in the middle of one street was this sculpture.
The highlight, though, and the real focus of our day-trip was to find the Yongning Catholic Church. It wasn't easy, but, fortunately, in these small towns I've found local people very helpful in directing me to the churches. Usually, they are Christians themselves.
I thought with the town being this small, the church would also be small, maybe like Yanzikou Church. However, I was surprised when we could see it from a main street. Walking around, though, we couldn't tell which alleyway would lead us to the front door.
With some help, we were able to navigate the narrow alley that lead us along the church's exterior walls. We came to this old door. It wasn't the one we were to enter by, but I thought it looked cool. It was one of the few very old wooden doors in the outer walls.
Because of the gate in the outer wall is so close to the entrance of the church, I could not get a picture of the whole front of the church, Sacred Heart Church. It was originally built in 1873. Destroyed in 1900, it was rebuilt in 1902 (many Beijing churches from that time have that same history).
The interior, bright and simple.
Myles was delighted to see that the red tabernacle light was lit. I don't know if he completely understands it yet, but he notices it.
The church property is rather large. In addition to the church itself, many of the older buildings (probably a school and or orphanage and nuns' and priests' dormitories) are still there.
And for anyone that needs to know, Sunday Masses are at 9 am.
This bell-tower stood in the middle of the town. Somewhat recently restored, brass bells hung at the corners rang in the wind. Against the blue sky it looked magnificent.
Once again, we didn't have too much information about this town, but clearly, it has been traditionally a market center. The streets were lined mostly with farmers selling the most gorgeous produce (if Yongning weren't so far away I'd never step foot in one of our local grocers again) as well as merchants selling the usual Chinese-sold-on-the-street products, like socks and barrettes. The manner in which this town was recently restored, as well, hinted to us a prosperous past.
The road was paved, maybe not in gold, but in money-shapes, right down the center.
And in the middle of one street was this sculpture.
The highlight, though, and the real focus of our day-trip was to find the Yongning Catholic Church. It wasn't easy, but, fortunately, in these small towns I've found local people very helpful in directing me to the churches. Usually, they are Christians themselves.
I thought with the town being this small, the church would also be small, maybe like Yanzikou Church. However, I was surprised when we could see it from a main street. Walking around, though, we couldn't tell which alleyway would lead us to the front door.
With some help, we were able to navigate the narrow alley that lead us along the church's exterior walls. We came to this old door. It wasn't the one we were to enter by, but I thought it looked cool. It was one of the few very old wooden doors in the outer walls.
Because of the gate in the outer wall is so close to the entrance of the church, I could not get a picture of the whole front of the church, Sacred Heart Church. It was originally built in 1873. Destroyed in 1900, it was rebuilt in 1902 (many Beijing churches from that time have that same history).
The interior, bright and simple.
Myles was delighted to see that the red tabernacle light was lit. I don't know if he completely understands it yet, but he notices it.
The church property is rather large. In addition to the church itself, many of the older buildings (probably a school and or orphanage and nuns' and priests' dormitories) are still there.
And for anyone that needs to know, Sunday Masses are at 9 am.
Comments
Is your email on your blog? We're out of town, and I am on my husband's VPN-less computer, trying every which way to get access to anything. I have email access, but not much else. It took me 20 tries to get to this page.
I can't help imposing the paradigm of the Catholic church in England under Elizabeth as the underground church, onto China. Perhaps that is not right. The Pope seems committed to accepting both as Catholics.
Do you know any more about this situation?
Do you see evidence of cooperation between these Patriotic Catholic Churches with the country's one child campaign? Somewhere I read that someone saw in a Patriotic Catholic Church a poster for the local "family planning" office.
Do they preach against contraception and abortion, ever?
Of course in some American dioceses, they never do so either. And they cooperate with the evil Democrat/Planned Parenthood axis. The antiabortion amendment to the Health care bill just got defeated, basically by the votes of so called "Catholic" Democrats. And the diocese of Boston made a huge fuss over long time proabortion senator Kennedy's funeral, as if he were some kind of saint or even a virtuous man. So in a way we have our collaborators also. Perhaps it is not so different.
Susan Peterson