Wangfujing Catholic Church (王府井教堂)

Wangfujing Catholic Church, commonly known as East Church and also known as St. Joseph’s Cathedral and Bamiancao Church, is the second Catholic Church built by Jesuit missionaries in Beijing following the first one at Xuanwumen. By now, Wangfujing Catholic Church is reduced to a three-story Romanesque building. Many Chinese traditional architectural elements are employed in the architectural details, making it a typical building with Chinese-Western style. Although it sits at the very hub of Beijing downtown, its holiness is not compromised at all. When one happens to walk past it during festivals, powerful organ sound and faint singing of the choir would meet the ear.
Wangfujing Catholic Church accommodates a 8,000-plus-square-meter plaza. There are benches for rest along both sides. In the south lies a green park who takes its name after bountiful rose flowers as Rose Garden. Moreover, inside the park gurgles an artificial spring called Die Spring.
And this church also houses scores of Jesuit paintings by Giuseppe Castiglione, a royal paint of the Qing Dynasty. In the fifty-ninth year under the reign of Kangxi Emperor, it was destroyed in an earthquake and rebuilt in the following year. In the twelfth year under the reign of Jiaqing Emperor, the priests who carried the books accidentally set it on fire. Fortunately, the church survived. Shortly, it was demolished. Until the tenth year under the reign of Guangxu Emperor, it was rebuilt as a Romanesque catholic church. Afterwards, it was burnt down during Boxer Rebellion. In the thirtieth year under the reign of Guangxu Emperor, the Roman Catholic Church rebuilt it. With time, it gradually becomes what we see today.