Sacred Space Of Churches In The Late Qing And Republican Periods In Guangdong & Hongkong

As the primary destination where western Catholicism and Protestantism were introduced into China and the key region where missionary works gained progress, Lingnan area created a mass breeding ground for the development of church architecture. For the construction of sacred space, different churches have their various understandings. Their architecture technique and spatial effect are also different. When it comes to traditional architectural culture, some churches hold the notion that western architectural style should be retained and thus directly transplanted into Lingnan area; While others advocated the sinicization of architectural art and tried to create a sacred space in combination of Chinese and western style. Having chosen some of the existing old churches in Guangdong & Hongkong, for the case study of their layout, architectural styles, the religious symbols, decorative components and internal spaces, this thesis will explain expression of ecclesiastical purpose and religious spirit behind the sacred space before going to analyze religious rituals and fellowships as the core of the sacred space and discover its way to influence believers' inner space and how they respond with feedback. Regarding Protestant churches' devotion to enterprises of social charity, education and medicals, a further discussion will be done on the migration and transformation of church sacred space, from a mono-functional to a more secularized multi-functional one, to be followed by a definition of the essential meaning of sacred space, and thus deduces a general interpretation of this concept in terms of believers' innermost dimension and for humanities and social sciences.