Catholic Churches and Dwelling Temples: An Isomorphic Study of Construction Techniques on Early Catholic Churches and Vernacular Dwellings in East Fujian, China (1840-1900) – A Secondary Publication

This paper attempts to examine the typologies of early Catholic churches in East Fujian Province, China, and analyze how they were internally relevant to local vernacular buildings. Focusing on the connection of architectural typology, this paper investigates the origination of the internal relevance, the Chinese path of Catholic church typological development, and the patterns of building techniques for Catholic churches in China. The conclusion indicates that both the early Catholic churches in East Fujian Province and local vernacular buildings were based on traditional Chinese craftsmanship, and therefore were isomorphic in their building forms. In the meantime, those early churches which hybridized traditional Chinese and Western architectural elements were typologically different from those “Chinese style” churches built in the Sinicization period of Christianity. This study contributes to enhancing the broadness and depth of the understandings of early Catholic churches in China.