Holy Image in the Mortal World - Jintang Shujiawan Catholic Church Eight Years Ago

I have nothing to do, so I wrote a travelogue to see what the century-old church in Shujiawan, Jintang County, on the Chengdu Plain looked like eight years ago: One day in April 2016, I came across a post that briefly introduced the Jintang Shujiawan Catholic Church in the suburbs of Chengdu. I searched on Baidu and found that the church was built in 1772 and was abandoned in the mountains for more than 200 years. It was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion. The Qing government allocated funds to rebuild it on the original site in the early last century. So I found a day with nice weather, researched the route, and drove there after lunch. An unintentional trip to the suburbs, an unexpected encounter with a holy statue on earth. Route: From Chengdu to Jintang, first set the navigation to Sichuan Normal University College of Arts and Sciences. After arriving at the College of Arts and Sciences, go up the mountain from the small road on the left side of the school. There are two forks in the middle. Ask passers-by for the direction of the Catholic church. The mountain road is narrow and it is difficult to pass other cars. There are several steep slopes and sharp turns, so drive carefully. Going to the top of the mountain, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of Tuojiang River in the distance and the blooming tung flowers up close. It takes about twenty minutes to reach the cathedral. At that time, there were very few tourists in the Catholic church. It was managed by a priest from Pi County. When there were activities, the priest would come from Pi County to preside over them. On weekdays, there was only a parishioner named Zhang who lived in the church to look after it. Church member Zhang is about fifty years old, kind and talkative. He accompanied me to visit the church and enthusiastically explained to me the stories of the Catholic church and some religious knowledge. On a rare sunny afternoon, I stopped at a Catholic church in the mountains, watched the changing light and shadows, and saw the holy images passing by through the stained glass windows, quietly enjoying a short but pleasant journey.