Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai

312 Pages·2011·1.835 MB·English

by  Paul P. Mariani

CHURCH MILITANT

CHUR CH MIL ITA N T
BISHOP KUNG AND CATHOLIC RESISTANCE
IN COMMUNIST SHANGHAI
Paul P. Mariani
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
2011
Copyright © 2011 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mariani, Paul Philip.
Church militant : Bishop Kung and Catholic resistance in Communist
Shanghai / Paul P. Mariani.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978–0-674–06153–8
1. Gong, Pinmei, 1901–2000. 2. Communism and Christianity—China—
Shanghai—History—20th century. 3. Communism and Christianity—
Catholic Church—History—20th century. 4. Catholic Church—China—Shanghai—
History—20th century. 5. Shanghai (China)—Church history—20th century. I. Title.
BX1667.S53M37 2011
282'.5113209045—dc22
2011007460
For my parents

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Note on Romanization xiii
Map xiv
Introduction 1
1 The Lines Are Drawn 27
2 Targeted Attack 68
3 Arrests and Expulsions 109
4 Assault 143
5 Final Operations 169
Epilogue 206
A Note on Sources 231
Notes 235
Bibliography 265
Index 275
vii

PREFACE
In retrospect, the genesis of my fascination with the dramatic story
recounted in these pages took place in 1995, the year I met Cardinal
Ignatius Kung Pinmei for the fi rst and last time. Through the help of
his relatives and friends, I was able to visit Kung—then ninety-three
years old—at a home for retired clergy in Connecticut. We could barely
communicate directly with each other. The cardinal protested that he
did not understand the “northern dialect” of Mandarin. He also knew
little English. He did, however, know Shanghaiese, French, and Latin, a
result of his long seminary formation in his native Shanghai. I was struck
by the bearing of this rather diminutive man who, as Shanghai’s fi rst
Chinese bishop, had spent almost thirty years in Shanghai’s Ward Road
Jail. During the visit, Kung’s main concern was to hear news about his
priests who were still in China. Of his own long period of suffering, he
said nothing.
This was no accident. In fact, for years family and friends prod-
ded him to give an account of his experiences. It was to no avail. “God
knows what happened,” he would say. “There is no need for anything
more.” But others differed. Some felt Kung’s testimony would shed light
on religious policy in the early People’s Republic of China. Others felt
it was imperative to record an important recent confrontation between
church and state. Nearly ten years passed, and I was once again drawn
back to learn more about this history. This book is the result.
This study is a history of a local Chinese community during a rather
short—albeit historically charged—period of time. By showing the
Shanghai Catholic community’s resistance to CCP religious policy in the
1950s, I have tried to give a “more differentiated, more contoured under-
standing,” in Paul A. Cohen’s words, of a particular community so as to
shed light on China as a whole during these important years. As such,
ix