A Chinese Palatial Church, Once Headquarters of the Fourth Army of the Red Army
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The two pictures attached are old photos of a Christian church located in Shima Liberation West Road, Longhai City, Zhangzhou, Fujian. In 1859, a Christian meeting place was set up in Xizibian, Daxiangqian, Shima, in an “old fashioned house, Junai Hall, bought from a man with the last name of Wang”.
In 1927, the church staff of Shima Church found that “the six-brick column in the center of Junai Hall obstructed the line of sight, and in 12th year the color of the centre sill seemed to change suddenly. They believed that the column was damaged by worms and about to collapse”. Under the proposal of Pastor Ang Khek Chhiong, the Shima Church decided to “tear down the old walls and rebuild a new foundation”. In twelve years (from 1915 to 1927), the church collected 17,257 yuan from believers at home and abroad, then a new spectacular Shima Christian church was built in the following year at the cost of 17,400 yuan. The new church had an elegant environment. The middle of it was a lobby of typical Chinese architectural style. There were also two buildings around the church: the clergy house and the deacon Building. The whole architecture was surrounded by walls. Inside the walls are all kinds of flowers and trees introduced from home and abroad. A flagpole was erected, setting off this magnificent Chinese palatial architecture.