[budaya_tionghua] Catholicism flourishes in Yunnan's Tibetan village

[T. Halim]

Catholicism flourishes in Yunnan's Tibetan village 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-01/10/content_511001.htmBy Mu Qian (China Daily)
 Updated: 2006-01-10 14:13 

Twenty-six-year-old Joseph and 25-year-old Teresa had their second child on 
October 10, 2005. Joseph's uncle Austin named the boy Michael. On December 25, 
Michael was baptized in the Catholic Church of their village Cizhong. 


 
 
 
The three-storey 
 clock tower of Cizhong Church is a Gothic building, but its top floor is 
 of Chinese pavilion style, covered with glazed tiles. [China 
 Daily]Located by the Lancang River and Hengduan Mountains, Cizhong is a small 
village in Diqing Tibetan Prefecture of Southwest China's Yunnan Province. Among 
the 1,101 residents of Cizhong, most are Tibetans. 
It may be hard to associate Tibetan faces with such names as Joseph and 
Teresa, but since some local residents were converted to Catholicism around 100 
years ago, they began to adopt Christian names and gradually forsook Tibetan 
names, which are usually given by lamas. 
Following the tradition of Christians, many who grew up in Cizhong but work 
elsewhere return to join Christmas celebrations at home. 
Hansen, 28, a tour guide working in Shangri-la, capital of Diqing prefecture, 
asked for eight days' leave. Hansen said he had prayed in the church with his 
parents every year since childhood. 
When he studied in Yunnan Ethnic Vocational High School in Kunming, he began 
to dig deeply into Catholicism. Now, Hansen reads a Chinese-English bible every 
day. 
"Actually Christianity and Buddhism are similar in terms of advocating good 
deeds," said he. "They differ only in forms." 
For this Christmas, Hansen brought with him his girlfriend Lurodroma, who is 
from a Tibetan-Buddhist family in Shangri-la. Lurodroma said it was the first 
time for her to celebrate Christmas, and she found it interesting. 
Seeds of Catholicism 
In the second half of the 19th century, the Foreign Missions of Paris began 
its activities in Deqen County in northwestern Yunnan. They built churches in 
Badong Village in 1866, in Cigu Village in 1867, and in Adunzi (now Shenping) in 
1872. 
However, the French missionaries' work in this Tibetan-Buddhism-dominated 
area was far from smooth. In an "exorcising foreign religion" movement in 1905, 
two missionaries were killed and Cigu's church burned down.With compensation from the government of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the 
missionaries built the Cizhong Church. It was completed in 1914 and became the 
main church of the Yunnan parish. 
The three-storey clock tower of Cizhong Church is a Gothic building, but its 
top floor is of Chinese pavilion style, covered with glazed tiles. On the top 
floor, one can enjoy a bird's eye view of Cizhong Village. 
Though foreign missionaries left in the early 1950s, Catholicism had taken 
root in Cizhong. Today there are 233 households in the village. Of the 130 
households on the west side of the Lancang River, where the church is located, 
89 are Catholics. 
Though both Catholics and Tibetan-Buddhists live in Cizhong, there seems not 
to be a distinct boundary between them, as all villagers, whether Catholics or 
Buddhists, celebrate religious festivals together. 
"On Christmas, the Buddhists help us prepare the celebration, and they sing, 
dance and eat with us. The only difference is that they don't go to church to 
pray," said Hansen. "It's similar for us on Buddhist festivals." 
On Christmas Eve, a fire was lit before the church. Villagers, no matter what 
religion, age, or gender, formed a circle around the fire to sing and dance. 
"Our guests from afar have come a long way. On this auspicious day, we meet 
at the Catholic Church. It is by God's mercy that we can celebrate Christmas 
together" 
Xianzi, a form of song and dance popular among the Tibetans living in Yunnan, 
was used to express a Christian theme, and such songs were sung by Catholics and 
Buddhists together. 
The party reached a climax when Santa Claus appeared. Played by Austin, 
president of the church, Santa Claus brought gifts for the children. 
People went on singing and dancing around the fire until midnight, when 
firecrackers were set off declaring time for Mass. Then the villagers swarmed 
into the church. 
There is no regular priest in Cizhong. For this year's Christmas, the village 
invited Father Yang Hongchang from Dali to hold the Mass. Yang, himself of the Miao ethnic group, is experienced in working with 
minority Catholics. 
"In the western part of Yunnan, almost all Catholics are minority people," 
said Yang. "I have been to villages where there is no electricity, and no road." 

Language is a problem in Yang's work. For many villagers of Cizhong, only a 
part of his sermon in putonghua could be understood, but Yang said that even if 
some people couldn't fully understand what he said, they could feel God in their 
hearts. 
"For all the people in the world who believe in Jesus Christ, today is a 
jubilant day," said Yang. 
Customs and habits of minority people can be another problem. 
During Mass, non-Catholics were still singing and dancing outside the church, 
while some Catholics, having drunk too much wine, forgot Mass and kept singing 
and dancing too. 
"Later I criticized those church members who forgot Mass," said Yang. "A 
Catholic can drink wine, but shouldn't drink too much, or it will cause 
trouble." 
When the French missionaries brought Catholicism, they also brought seeds of 
vines and techniques for brewing wine. Today planting grapes and brewing wine 
still brings important income for the villagers. The wine used in Mass was also 
locally brewed. 
During Mass, the villagers read scriptures and sang chants in Tibetan 
language, but the texts they used were written in Chinese characters. 
Most people in the church held in their hands such a book of scriptures and 
chants, the cover of which has a picture of the church. 
Xiao Jieyi, 76, is probably the person in Cizhong whose life is most closely 
associated with the church, for he was born in it. 
Xiao's father, a Han Catholic from Sichuan Province, followed foreign 
missionaries to Cizhong and met Xiao's Tibetan mother here. They got married in 
the church and lived in the church for 25 years. 
Because the influence of his father, who worked as a translator for the 
foreign missionaries, Xiao not only speaks Chinese and Tibetan, but also learned 
French and Latin. 
In the 1990s, seeing that many young church members did not know how to read 
scriptures, Xiao began to transliterate Tibetan scriptures and chants into 
Chinese characters. With the help of many old church members, the book was 
completed in 2002. 
"I'm so glad that everybody can read scriptures and sing chants now," said 
Xiao, who often led the church members in reading and chanting. 
When the Tibetan Catholic chants echoed in the church, the resonant voice of 
men and penetrating voice of women could be heard from 
afar.From article:
Catholicism flourishes in Yunnan's Tibetan village By Mu Qian (China Daily) Updated: 2006-01-10 14:13
 
 






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