Sicheng Hall

Sicheng church is the only existing ancient church in Hangzhou Christian Church, with a history of 80 years. It is located at 132 Jiefang Road, the intersection of Hangzhou Jiefang Road and fengle bridge.

Sicheng Hall

Sicheng church is the oldest and most professional Christian Church in Hangzhou. It has a history of more than 90 years. The combination of Chinese and Western architectural style is very unique.

architectural style

Sicheng hall, which was built in 1927, is larger than it is today. It extends to the middle of Jiefang Road and has a bell tower. Later, because Jiefang Road was widened, the bell tower was demolished. Looking down from Wushan, we can see ten high-rise three story buildings with upturned eaves. In particular, this church building has Chinese and Western styles.

In people's impression, church architecture is always western style, such as "Gothic", "Roman", "Byzantine". Chinese people call Christianity "foreign religion". How to combine Christianity with Chinese culture to make Chinese people accept Christianity, Chinese people have done a lot of attempts, such as the Bible of harmony and the poetry of praise to the whole heaven. Culture has both external forms and internal spiritual combination. In contrast, it is easier to change and blend in the external form. The original designer of sichengtang had this intention.

The whole building of Sicheng hall is in the shape of a cross. Looking down from the top of the building, you can see a huge cross lying across to show that it is Christian (the cross is the symbol of Christianity). The exterior wall is made of green brick, and the interior is made of imported pine. The ground of the second and third floors is paved with wood, with a total of three floors. It is a church of brick and wood structure, and adopts the symmetrical pattern of Chinese architecture. Walk into the church, a burst of pine fragrance comes, giving people a fresh feeling. Sitting in any corner of the second or third floor, you can see the platform from a very good perspective. The overhanging angle of eaves has Chinese characteristics, especially the window and door adopt the Chinese garden style, which is unique in Chinese churches.

history

Sicheng church is the only existing ancient Church of Hangzhou Christian Church, which has a history of 90 years. Her original sectarian background is the American north Presbyterian Church.

The history of sichengtang can be traced back to 1858 (the eighth year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty). At that time, Zhang Chengzhai, Jin Linyou and Gong Kunpeng, the Chinese missionaries of the North Presbyterian Church (the earliest Protestant sect introduced into Hangzhou), were the followers of sichengtang Wang Xiaofeng came to Hangzhou from Ningbo and lived in scissors lane of Wang Wang Temple in Ziyang mountain. A few months later, Britain, the United States and France negotiated with China, and the missionaries left Hangzhou and returned to Ningbo. As a result, the cause of missionary work stopped. In November 1864, missionaries Ge Ning and Zhang Chengzhai came to Hangzhou from Ningbo to temporarily live in the Anglican Church of Masuo lane. In December, they rented a five bay hall in Pishi lane as a chapel. In December 1868 (the seventh year of Tongzhi), the church members elected Zhang Chengzhai as pastor. There were 40 believers from Hangzhou, Xinshi, Pingyao and other places. They held a pastoral ceremony in pishixiang church and became the first pastor of the church.

Until 1921, as the number of believers increased, people proposed to build a new church. Zhang intended to build a chapel in memory of his father, pastor Zhang Chengzhai. At that time, Zhang's son, Dr. Zhang Baoqing, took the lead in donating 10000 silver dollars and collecting 20000 silver dollars in China. Thirty thousand yuan, totally sixty thousand yuan, was raised from abroad for construction at the site of Sicheng hall. From 1924 to 1927, it was named "Sicheng hall" to commemorate pastor Zhang Chengzhai.

In 1930, the new church was used for the first time at Easter, and pastor fan Guangrong was hired at the opening. Pastor fan graduated from Hujiang University. When he came to Hangzhou, he first preached and taught English at gongchenqiao, and then preached at Taiping church. He became the first pastor of Sicheng Church in 1928. Due to the need of work, he hired another preacher, Paul Xu. Only about 200 people attended the church.

At the end of 1937, the Anti Japanese war broke out. On December 24, Hangzhou was occupied by the Japanese. When the Japanese invaded Hangzhou, Sicheng hall became a refugee center for the people in Hangzhou. Pastor fan was in charge of it. A few months later, the situation was stable, the shelter was dissolved, and the refugees went home. At this time, the elders and deacons of Sicheng church left Hangzhou one after another. Only Bao Jinlin and Wang Huaen stayed in Hangzhou. Due to the scattered believers, the donation decreased. Pastor fan started typing classes, piano classes, Mingde middle school and other cultural tutorial schools to make up for the shortage of church supply.

On December 8, 1941, the Japanese imperialists launched the Pacific Pearl Harbor incident, and the war between Japan and the United States officially started, so the church became the enemy property. Japanese gendarmes stationed in Hangzhou immediately searched the houses of British and American missionaries and monitored their actions. All church property was occupied. Pastor fan's family was forced to move out of Sicheng hall and live in new No. 4, Ta'er lane. The service had to be held in the old chapel of Pishi lane. In 1945, Sicheng hall was transformed into a "Sino Japanese cultural center" as a place for enslavement.

After the victory of the Anti Japanese war in 1945, Sicheng hall returned to the hands of believers. From April 18 to 20, 1956, Hangzhou Christian held the first representative meeting of the three self Patriotic Movement in Sicheng hall.

During the cultural revolution, Sicheng hall was once occupied by Hangzhou Library. After the implementation of the religious policy in 1979, it was returned to the church in 1981, and the restoration ceremony was held on August 30 of the same year.

Zhejiang Theological Seminary, which was established by the provincial two sessions in October 1984, was also located here until 2000. The principal pastor of the church is pastor Huang Mingke and resident pastor Chen Wei. There are more than 10 pastors, elders and co-workers, including Chen Fengsheng, Zhan Jingbo, Li enlin, Yan Ronghui, Wang Guijin, Wang Dingfu, Zhu Guihua, Lu Wenhua, Zhao Xiaohui, Song Jie, Jiang Xiang, etc. About 5000 believers often attend church.

Foreign exchange

On December 5, 1983, the British Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert A. K. ransis, and his party visited Hangzhou. At 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., a welcome service was held in Sicheng hall. Pastor Cai Wenhao delivered a welcome speech and archbishop ransis gave a reply. During the ceremony, both sides exchanged gifts and the hymn group sang. More than 1000 people participated. Bishop Ding Guangxun, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference and honorary president of Chinese Christianity, has come to Sicheng church many times to guide the Christian work of the whole province and the city. In 1988, the American chorus of 100 held a concert here. In 1990, at the invitation of the two associations of China, Zhou Lianhua, a Christian leader from Taiwan, visited Hangzhou and preached in Sicheng hall. On December 13, 1992, pastor Li Zhigang, chairman of the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Association, led a group of 15 members to visit Hangzhou and Sicheng church.

Address: No.132 Jiefang Road, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China

Longitude: 120.172838

Latitude: 30.250932

Tel: 0571-87024262

Chinese PinYin : Si Cheng Tang