The history of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) in Northeast China illustrates a crucial period in the establishment of the Catholic presence in the region. The missionary strategy in Manchuria from 1840 to the 1950s was based on the systematic training of local catechists and clergy and the institutionalization of church structures, considering the regional characteristics such as geographical location and population dispersion. This article attempts to reconstruct the history of institutionalization of Manchurian mission based on the rich archival heritage of the M.E.P. The society's documentary collection consists of statistical reports, official dispatches, correspondence, and cartographic material, which allow not only to reconstruct the institutional development of Catholicism in Northeast China, but also to study the processes of inculturation of Christianity, the formation of Catholic settlements and migration patterns, as well as sociocultural transformations in the context of interaction between the French missionary tradition and Chinese society.
Key words: Roman Catholic Church, missionary activity, inculturation of Christianity, religious landscape, house church, Catholic settlement, Paris Foreign Missions Society, Northeast China, Manchuria, China, France
DOI: 10.22250/20728662-2025-4-34-49
About the author
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Nikolai V. Chirkov – religious studies scholar, PhD (Philosophy), Amur State University, 21 Ignatievskoe shosse, Blagoveshchensk, 675027; Russia. сThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |