Po Li Church

Po Li Church

Po Li Church is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Shandong Province.

Po Li Church is located in Po Li Village, Ding Shui Town, Yanggu County. It is a fully structured, fully functional, and exquisitely built Catholic church, and the largest in western Shandong.

Po Li Church was begun in 1882 by German missionaries, completed in 1889, and its auxiliary facilities were fully completed by 1909. According to the "Liaocheng Regional Annals": In the seventh year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1881), German priest An Zhitai and Austrian priest Father Josef Freinademetz came to Po Li Village, Yanggu County, to preach. The following year, they purchased land and built the church. By the fifteenth year of Guangxu (1889), the church was completed, religious activities developed rapidly, and the Po Li Parish was established, overseeing churches in Yanggu Town, Fan County, Guancheng, Chaoyang, and Liangshan. In 1933, with approval from the Holy See, the Yanggu Apostolic Prefecture was established, with its bishop's office located in Po Li Church. In 1939, the Yanggu Prefecture was elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate. In 1945, it was further upgraded to a Diocese. In 1947, church activities largely ceased due to war and other factors. In January 1928, the earliest peasant uprising in Shandong Province led by the Chinese Communist Party broke out at Po Li Church, playing a significant role in the revolutionary movement in northwestern Shandong.

Architectural Style

Po Li Church is a European Gothic architectural complex, built with brick and wood, facing south and situated to the north. It is a grand complex consisting of eight interconnected Western-style buildings, including the main church, monks' building, nuns' building, orphanage, monastery, and more. The outer area is encircled by a two-story ring building, with interconnected basements below. The courtyard houses numerous standalone structures, comprising 19 self-contained courtyards, 300 rooms, and a roof covered with galvanized iron sheets. The architectural scale is magnificent and spectacular, with exquisite craftsmanship and ingenious design, representing a masterpiece of Sino-Western architecture. The church currently retains over 200 rooms and covers an area of 14,000 square meters.

Ding Shui Town: Ding Shui Town is located in the northwest of the county, about 40 li from the county seat. It borders Shen County to the west and Dongchangfu District to the north. It has a current population of 28,000, with 45,000 mu of arable land, and administers 5 management areas, 39 administrative villages, and 13 town-level departments.

Since the beginning of this year, Ding Shui Town has received several honors, including Advanced Party Building Committee of the County, High-Quality Family Planning Service Township of the City, Comprehensive Governance and Safe Civilization Township of the County, Civilized Unit of the City, Advanced Ideological Work Unit of the County, and Demonstration Town for Rural Financial Management of the Province. Areas such as education, health, sports, broadcasting, civil affairs, elderly care, and civil... More details about Ding Shui Town++

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units