Catholic Images of Christ and Mary in Late Imperial China

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical survey on the Catholic images of Christ and Mary that have been presented, produced, and circulated in China from the late sixteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. Though the Christian missions to China had started as early as in the seventh century, it was not until the seventeenth century that the images of Christ and Mary gained unprecedented visibility. The Catholic missionaries, especially the Jesuits, imported varied types of devotional images from Europe. They meanwhile circulated locally made reproductions in large number to facilitate proselytization and propaganda. On the other hand, the Chinese people across social classes made diverse responses to the popular Catholic icons. Partly due to the Sinocentric pride and xenophobia, Chinese discontent accumulated and culminated in a series of persecutions of Christianity, which led to the vanishing of Catholic icons during the mid-Qing period. After the Catholic missions revived in the late nineteenth century, the images of Christ and Mary rose to popularity again and spread widely by mean of new media and technologies. However, with the increasing tensions between China and Western powers, these Catholic images were distorted and caricaturized by hostile Chinese gentry to stir up violent anti-Christian mass movements during the last decades of the Qing regime. The history of the images of Christ and Mary in late imperial China not only constituted part of the global spread of Christianity, but it also unfolded a complex process of localization in which Christianity has gradually evolved into a marginal Chinese religion.