Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Hangzhou)

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Chinese: 圣母无原罪主教座堂; pinyin: Shèngmǔ wúyuánzuì zhǔjiàojǐtáng) is a Roman Catholic cathedral, located at 415 Zhongshan Road North (中山北路415号) not far from Wulin Square (武林广场) in downtown Hangzhou, China. Since it is the only Catholic church currently in service within the city of Hangzhou itself, it is also known simply as Tiānzhǔ Táng (天主堂) or "the Catholic church".

Li Zhizao (李之藻) was a Ming Dynasty official-scholar and Catholic from Hangzhou working in Beijing, who had been converted and baptized by Matteo Ricci. In 1611, when he received news of his father's death, he hurried back to Hangzhou and on the way brought with him two Jesuit priests from Nanjing, Lazaro Cattaneo and Nicolas Trigault. They took care of Li Zhizao's father's funeral and on May the 8th at the Li family's residence held the first Mass ever in Hangzhou. One of the new converts in Hangzhou was a wealthy Imperial Inspector named Yang Tingyun (杨廷筠). He and his entire family were originally Buddhist, but upon his conversion he went so far as to turn his home's Buddhist altar into a chapel. Together, Li Zhizao, Yang Tingyun and Xu Guangqi (of Shanghai) are known as the "Three Pillars of Chinese Catholicism" (三大柱石). Later in 1616, during a period of persecution against Christians in Nanjing, many refugees fled to Hangzhou where they were at first housed in the homes of Li Zhizao and Yang Tingyun. It was soon realized that a better solution would be required, and in 1627 Yang Tingyun bought a piece of land near Wulin Gate (武林门) on Guan Road (观巷) and had Hangzhou's first church built there, slightly west of where today's church lies. It was soon followed the next year by another church constructed near Qiantang Gate (钱塘门, once one of the 10 gates in the old city walls of Hangzhou, located at the intersection of today's Hubin 湖滨 and Qingchun 庆春 roads). None of these two churches or the gates and city walls they once stood by remain today however.

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