The Incredible Story of St. Michael's Cathedral in Shandong Province, China

Located where the famed Yellow River meets the Ocean, the Province of Shandong in East China has played an extremely important role in Chinese and world economic and political history.

However, Shandong is also justifiably famous as one of the world's great cradles for spiritual and religious ideas.

Shandong’s beautiful and imposing Mount Tai is Taoism’s most revered and holy Mountain. Here beautiful monasteries clinging to the cliffs, the incredible and ancient Temple of the God, and the awe-inspiring Heaven’s Gate all underscore the Mountain’s religious importance for over 3,000 years.

Shandong’s Jinan Buddhist Temples are amongst the foremost examples of Chinese Buddhist Architecture, and Jinan is also home to The Mountain of a Thousand Buddhas, where thousands upon thousands of Buddha’s have been carved into every bit of exposed rock.

Shandong’s city of Qufu is where the great philosopher Confucius was born, and that city remains the center of world-wide Confucianism today. His ideas of virtue centered around duty and family are enjoying a modern resurgence.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that there is a splendid Catholic Cathedral in the Shandong city of Qingdao.

This is how it happened…

Shandong’s location as a political and economic center of Chinese Civilization caught the eye of all the Western powers, including Germany. 

Germany was able to negotiate the lease of a small “economic zone” in the province of Shandong, centered around the city of Qingdao.

The German’s were able to integrate their interests with those of the people who had been living there for many thousands of years and the trading community flourished.

German catholics and protestants alike moved to the area, and many Chinese converted to Christianity as well. 

To serve Qingdao’s growing congregation, German Missionaries undertook to build a magnificent cathedral, and in 1931, building commenced in earnest. 

On October 28, 1934, the beautiful, Romanesque-inspired cathedral was completed and 

officially consecrated to Saint Michael The Archangel.

Choosing Saint Michael as the guardian for the cathedral was an excellent decision as China and the world was enduring a very challenging and tumultuous period in history.

Over the next several decades St. Michael’s Cathedral in Qingdao was faced with a world-wide economic Depression, The Japanese invasion of China and seizure of the Cathedral, China’s Civil War, and Communist seizure of the Cathedral, and finally, The Cultural Revolution, where the Bishop and all the priests were imprisoned, and the Cathedral was stripped bare and used as a warehouse.

Through it all, the rather large and imposing Cathedral at the top of a hill in Qingdao’s Old City remained intact, and so did the local Catholic community.

In the modern era the Chinese Government completed an extensive restoration of the Cathedral and today the Bishop of Qingdao and a staff of priests hold Daily Mass and Special Holiday Masses for the area’s more than 10,000 Catholics!

For more great stories about the Spirit of Michael in action, check out this Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Spirit-of-Michael/319058918294735