Wangfujing Cathedral in Beijing
I made it back to Beijing city center before dark and boy does it get dark here very fast. For lack of better a better idea, I decided to make my way to one of Beijing city’s most well known places – Wangfujing 王府井. Wangfujing is most known as Beijing’s premier shopping streets and most Chinese cities have their own shopping street. I figured that if it is in the capital then this must be the shopping streets of all shopping streets. I was expecting a long line of shopping malls here but what surprised me was anything but a mall.
Front Gate of the Wangfujing Cathedral
At one end of Wangfujing shopping street is the Wangfujing Cathedral 王府井天主堂. The church is also called St. Joseph’s Cathedral. It started its life as a small church in the 1600s until it was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. In the early 1900s it was rebuilt in its current form and I must say it is quite elegant. At night it is even more spectacular with all the lights on. The plaza in front is a popular spot for photographers and skateboarders. In fact, I was asked to help to take someone’s photo while I was visiting. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t know that there was a Catholic Church here in Beijing, I would have wanted to attend Holy Mass here and at the same time observe how Catholicism is practiced here in China.
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