- Image obtained from a postcard (all the way from Taiwan!) from dearest Brother Alberto -
A Chinese depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child Jesus - I am amazed at how much acculturation the Catholic Church in China has gone through in Taiwan.
One word: WOW.
5 comments:
We have a statue of Mother Mary in kebaya and Jesus as a child in baju and sampin (that sarung?) in our cathedral. Very Malaysian.
Ermmmmmm. It looks very nice. But Mary and Jesus were Jewish... is it that hard to accept another race as Lord? I don't fuly understand.
5xmom: LOL. How cute!! :D Can you take a picture of 'em and send it to me please? :)
Ban: Or you can look at it from another perspective: Mary and Jesus were very much accepted, so much so that they were integrated into the Chinese culture. ;)
Nah, imagine that Madonna travelled to China for a fashion makeover.
It's THE place to go these days after all - and Mary has always been trendy.
Forgive me that I have to burst your bubble and inform you that the Painting of the Madonna and Child is not due of the Acculturation of the Catholic Church in Taiwan, but rather was painted during the time of the Last Imperial Dynasty in China.
Those of Buddhist Origin would easily recognise the artist interpretation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with Kuan Yin, the Goddes of Mercy, who is often depicted carrying a child also.
Since the time of the Jesuits Mission to China in the Ming Dynasty to this very day, the Image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is strongly ingrained in the minds of the Chinese, either in the western form or in the more easily recognisable asiatic form as depicted in the postcard.
However, I'm quite certain that may of the Chinese Immigrants here failed to realise that the First Marian Shrine was built in China in 1866 in the City of Shanghai and dedicated to Our Lady Help Of Christian.
I am quite certain that many would have failed to realise that in the year 1900, Our Blessed Mother appeared in China in the Town of Donglu, in the Hebei province. In this apparition she appeared dressed in the Imperial Robes of the Empress of China and commanded an image be painted of her in the robes and to be housed in a shrine that was built at the site and has become such a popular pilgrimage site for Chinese Catholics at the time that in 1932, Pope Pius XI officially Approved the Shrine of Our Lady of China as an official Shrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
Therefore, once again, The Painting of the Madonna and Child in your postcard is not the result of the expansion or acculturation of the Catholic Chuch In China in Taiwan, but rather, it has been for Centuries that Our Lady has been depicted in Chinese Painting and in Chinese Style in China.
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