Immaculate Conception Cathedral

The Immaculate Conception Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Taiyuan, a diocese with a history going back to the Franciscan missions of the Yuan dynasty. The current cathedral is a substantial neo-Gothic brick building from the early 20th century, built after the previous church was destroyed in the Boxer Uprising of 1900, in which several dozen Catholic missionaries and Chinese converts were killed in Taiyuan itself.

The cathedral is still an active parish serving Taiyuan's Catholic community and is open during services. The interior is well-maintained, with stained glass, carved woodwork, and the usual Catholic liturgical furniture in a European Gothic arrangement. The surrounding neighbourhood in the northern city has a quiet character compared with the commercial centre — worth a walk combined with the Ancient Mosque nearby.

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The Catholic martyrs of Taiyuan, killed during the Boxer Uprising of 1900, were canonised by Pope John Paul II in 2000 — a politically sensitive act that China protested, since the canonisation included a Chinese official killed by the martyrs. The cathedral is built partly in memory of the 26 martyrs from the Taiyuan diocese who died in the uprising, and the tension between Catholic memory and Chinese national memory around that event has never fully resolved.

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