We got here as the sun set since it took us a whole day to reach St. Joseph’s Church, known more commonly as Wangfujing Church or Dongtang, one of the few proofs of the Jesuits’s presence in the capital city!
Hidden by the skyscrapers, the huge modern malls and the imperial monuments, this fascinating church stands proud in the middle of a world to which it does not belong anymore. In fact, China today has only 4 million Christians which, out of a population of 1,3 billion, is not much!
Finally!
The Church was actually built by two Jesuit priests with the blessing of the Emperor in 1655, which makes it the second oldest church in Beijing.