Ruins of a Catholic church destroyed ca. 1912.
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Ruins of a Catholic church destroyed ca. 1912.
Catholics in Dawu
A Kham Aid Foundation report by Pamela Logan
Nov 1, 2000
"God has sent you!" cried the old nun at the sight of two Americans in her tiny Catholic church. She sat down on one of the flat, polished boards that made up the church's seating. I sat down next to her on a kneeling board, my head bumping on an alcove where their bibles and hymnals were stored. The nun was 73 years old, but still very energetic. "Are you Catholic?" she asked hopefully.
I looked at Melinda Liu, my companion. "Are we Catholic?" I asked her rhetorically. I didn't want to break the old nun's heart by telling her the truth, but to lie would be awful, too. At last we admitted that Melinda is Christian (but not Catholic), and I am a Buddhist. The nun took it well. She and her fellow Catholics here in this small Tibetan town were just too pleased to have foreigners visitors; they weren't going to turn us out now.
French Catholic missionaries first arrived in Dawu (Chinese: Daofu) in 1903. They built a church, won a few converts, and soon became an accepted part of this Tibetan agricultural community located at 2900 meters above sea level.
Yet they had enemies here, too. The town's enormous Gelugpa monastery Nyimtso Gonpa, which had roughly 2000 monks at that time, did not easily brook trespassers into their terrain.
According to a report published by the China Exploration and Research Society, Nyimtso was "a very powerful and militant monastery [that] successfully destroyed many monasteries of other sects within the area. Through the establishment of a 'Dare-devil' Army, they fought their way throughout the region and conquered one of the most important Bonpo monasteries, Jolor Gomba. Many other Bonpo and Nyingmapa monasteries were intimidated into subjugation."
It seems that the only thing protecting the French missionaries from the ire of the Nyimtso monks was the Chinese magistrate, Yang Zhonghan, and his garrison, placed in Dawu by the Qing emperor to enforce their nominal rule over the area. The Khampas of Dawu, like Khampas virtually everywhere, were a law unto themselves, especially in the countryside, but the recent military incursions of General Zhao Erfeng (called "Butcher Zhao" ) had intimidated Tibetans east of the Yangtze. The threat of Zhao's reenforcements supporting the local Chinese garrison had a cooling effect on the monastery. And so the missionaries carried on.
This period of uneasy stability ended in 1912, just after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, when General Zhao was assassinated in Chengdu. The magistrate Yang, however, did not recognize that his position was significantly weakened, and continued to try to exercise authority over the Nyimtso monks. The monks rose up in rebellion, and with them the other Tibetans of Dawu. They killed many Chinese, and drove the rest away.
At this time, only one French missionary was resident in Dawu. He was captured, along with a Tibetan convert, who was considered an outsider because he came from Batang. The two were stripped naked, the Frenchman shorn of his beard, and they were tied to a flagpole on the roof of the monastery. Their church was burned. The magistrate and his wife were also captured, but not harmed.
The New Nationalist government reacted quickly to this insurrection, sending troops to Dawu to restore order. All four captives were released. The monks were kicked out of Nyimtso, but later mediation restored the monastery to them.
The French demanded compensation for their lost church, which led to a new church being built in about 1915. Now in ruins, it was made of brick and timber, in mixed European and Chinese style, and lies next to the modern-day Chengguan Primary School at the edge of town. This church was where Melinda and I had first gone, following a trail that eventually led us to the nun and her fellow congregants.
The last foreign missionary left Dawu in 1949 when the Communists took control of China. As one (Chinese) history says, "After Liberation, in accordance with the people's wishes, the French missionary Tan Yuanming was sent back to his homeland, thus ending 43 years of French imperialist aggression."
Catholic worship, like virtually all religious practice in China, ceased during the Cultural Revolution, and the church left to decay. But after the fall of Mao, the Catholics of Dawu began to pull themselves together. Now they have a newly-built meeting hall located on the upper floor of a brick building. It is surrounded by traditional Tibetan homes. The congregation numbers about 20, and ranges in age from 51 to 80. Tibetans and Chinese are present in roughly equal numbers, and they worship together at a bilingual mass.
Catholics in Dawu do not have an easy time of it. The only priest in the area lives in Kangding and visits rarely (his last visit was in August of 1999). The church is sometimes visited by Catholics from nearby Luhuo (Trango) and Danba counties, but even on Christmas they are hard put to muster up fifty parishioners in their pews. Thus, unless immigration brings a fresh influx of young members, the days of this Catholic community are numbered.
Melinda and I had a hard time leaving this place. Its history was so colorful, and the people so touchingly eager to make contact. I hope any of you who visit Dawu, of whatever faith, will stop by and visit this humble but indomitable little church.