Professor Delin Lai conducts a field research project in China

Fujian Christian University 1925

Wenzhou City Christian Church 1898

With the support of a research grant from the Asian Cultural Council in New York, Professor Delin Lai conducted a field research project on the remaining structures of Christian churches in China this summer. Professor Lai visited Beijing, Nanjing, Qingdao, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan and Fuzhou, and investigated more than twenty architecture sites. The research objective is three-fold: to document the remaining structures of early church architecture in China; to study the diversified church architectural designs in relationship to varied local traditions; and to study the foreign influence on the transition of Chinese building technique from timber structure to brick structure.

Images: Fujian Christian University (1925); Wenzhou City Christian Church (1898)