Fengyuan Hall

Fengyuan Hall

Fengyuan Hall was a historic Christian church in Guangzhou, affiliated with the Church of Christ in China, located at No. 54, Fengyuan Zheng Street, Longjin West Road, Liwan District. In 1960, the church merged with Shifang Hall. In 1995, Shifang Hall was rebuilt on the original site of Fengyuan Hall.

History

Fengyuan Hall was one of the oldest churches in Guangzhou. Its predecessor was a branch of the Presbyterian Church, established in 1862 by Rev. Andrew P. Happer of the American Presbyterian Mission (North), making it one of the five branches set up by the mission in Guangzhou. Initially located on Tongde Street in Xiguan. In 1892, the Presbyterian branch constructed a worship hall on Fengyuan West Street. In the early years of the Republic of China, over ten churches in Guangzhou that had originally belonged to denominations such as the American Presbyterian Mission (North), the London Missionary Society, and the Congregational Church joined the Church of Christ in China.

Fengyuan Hall was the birthplace of several educational and medical institutions in Guangzhou. During its time on Tongde Street in Xiguan, the Presbyterian Church operated Anhe Hall, which moved to Huadi in 1888 and was renamed Pui Ying College. The Presbyterian Church also founded the Canton Christian College, the predecessor of the private Lingnan University. In 1899, female missionary Mary Fulton established the Canton Hospital Medical School for Women and its affiliated free clinic there. Three years later, it was renamed Hackett Medical College (later known as the private Hackett Medical College, and eventually merged into the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Medical College of the private Lingnan University).

In 1960, under the promotion of the Guangzhou Three-Self Patriotic Movement Committee, the joint worship initiative led to the merging of Grace Baptist Church, the Tat Tung Church of the Far East Gospel Crusade, and the Church of Christ in China’s Fengyuan Hall with the original Methodist Church's Shifang Hall. Worshippers then attended services at Shifang Hall, while the Fengyuan Hall building was taken over by a factory. After the Cultural Revolution, in December 1983, Shifang Hall became the fourth church in Guangzhou to resume religious activities. Later, due to the deteriorating condition of the original Shifang Hall building on Shifang Road, it was relocated in 1995 to the former site of Fengyuan Hall on Fengyuan Zheng Street, where a six-story building was reconstructed. The first and second floors were designated for the new Shifang Hall, while the upper floors were used as residential space. This was the first newly constructed church in Guangzhou after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.