A Review of Catholic Periodical Literatures in China (1872-1949)

Abstract

In 1872, the Jesuits of the Xujiahui Observatory in Shanghai started a French newspaper, the Bulletin des Observation Météorologiques, which marked the beginning of the Catholic periodical literatures in China. During the early period of the Republic of China, the Catholic periodicals surged fast and spread from the coastal to the inner cities. The publications were run by different Catholic religious orders in many languages. But with the outbreak of Anti-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, Catholic periodical literatures in China fell to decadency. The periodicals stimulated the development of Catholicism in China and the cultural exchange between China and the West and thus played an active and important role in the modern Chinese history. This paper describes the development of the Catholic periodical literatures in different stages and discussed on the influences of the Catholic periodicals to the Chinese society. (Article content in Chinese with English extended abstract)

Keywords

• catholicism
• catholic periodicals