Research On Site Selection And Plan Layout Of Pre-modern Catholic Church In Shanxi Province

In the long course of development of pre-modern Catholic constructions in Shanxi Province, site selection and plan layout of Catholic churches have experienced a phase of evolution from monotype to diversity and from simplicity to complexity. This evolution presents both the original style of western traditional Catholic constructions and the tendency of merging with local constructions of Shanxi Province. The localization progress of the site selection and plan layout of Catholic churches is not only closely related to Catholicism itself as well as local elements including culture, nature, politics, and economy, it is also influenced directly by the national conditions of pre-modern China and the foreign policies of government at that time. This paper takes site selection and construction plan layout of pre-modern Catholic churches of Shanxi Province as research objects. Based on existing sites of pre-modern churches and authoritative literature, this paper utilizes categorizing, analyzing, listing and summarizing as research methods, starts from the viewpoint of restoring objective history, and makes in-depth discussion on the evolution process of the site selection and plan layout of pre-modern Catholic churches and the practical significance they brought to the overall development of Shanxi Catholic church.The high research value of site selection and plan layout of churches derives from the fact that both of the aspects are important carriers of church construction. Site selection is the carrier of Catholic construction complex. An appropriate location may enhance the value and status of a Catholic construction complex. As an exotic and religious construction, Catholic church is greatly influenced by its location. The location not only affects the original influence of a Catholic church within its region but also has a close relationship with its future development. Plan layout is the carrier of individual buildings of a church. It is an object entity that presents Catholicism and decides the form of the religious “pathway” that leads from the secular world to heaven. The plan layout of a church building provides a foundation for the basic flow of its Catholic rites and draws the line for the style and dimension of the facade. If the process of church construction is metaphorically referred to as the process of conceiving, then site selection is the womb of a church complex and plan layout is the placenta of it – the former decides the “birth” place of a church and the latter lays foundation for the “growth” of the church. Thus site selection and plan layout are of vital importance to the development of a Catholic church. And the study of these two characters is very necessary and of great significance for the research of pre-modern Catholic churches in Shanxi Province.Being influenced by multiple factors in the process of development, the site selection and plan layout of churches are diversified. And meanwhile, these two aspects also generate strong effects to surrounding areas. Located in Shanxi province among many mountains and plains, church construction has to face landforms with multiple features while selecting sites, which contributes to the tendency of diversity in site selection. While being introduced to local villages and towns, some church plan layouts are gradually affected and assimilated by Shanxi folk residence. Thus, the plan layout of these churches presents a sharp contrast to those of churches in large cities, presenting a tendency of diversity. In the development progress of diversification, different types of site selection and plan layout emerged, further generating different influences to surrounding areas. As one of the earliest western constructions appeared at pre-modern Shanxi, Catholic church was a brand new thing. Along with the appearance of this new thing came brand new construction styles, forms, and functions, i.e. Church hospitals, orphanages, monasteries and schools. Different types of diversification of site selection and plan layout of churches generate different levels of influences to surrounding areas, which is also an important focus of discussion in this paper.Through numerous field researches and literature review, this paper makes a comprehensive conclusion to site constructions and plan layouts of all 64 Catholic churches existing in Shanxi Province. This paper spends two chapters on the aspect of site selection: conventional type of site selection and special type of site selection. The former one, based on field researches, is a classification principle focused on geographical concepts and is more objective. The latter one, based on related literature and memories of local people, contains some subjective elements and is a classification principle focused on historical concepts. Based on the principles of classification, the two chapters are further divided into different sections to summarize the characteristics, significance, and influences of site selection of every type of different actual cases. On the aspect of plan layout, this paper utilizes the basic steps of disassembling, restructure, numbering and summarizing. Based on the method of macroscopic-microscopic-macroscopic, this paper disassembles all plan layouts of researched churches into basic elements, reassembles them into church plan layouts and sets up different numbers for each type of plan layout. This process creates an overall scale for the research on church plan layouts, and provides references for this paper as well as future studies on this aspect.