Aowei Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary
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The Aowei Church of Holy Rosary (Chinese: 澳尾巷玫瑰圣母堂; pinyin: ǎowěi xiàng méigūi shèngmǔ jiàotáng, literally Aowei Church of Holy Rosary) is a Catholic church in Fuzhou, China. It was founded in 1884 as a cathedral by the Dominican Order from Spain.
History
This Catholic church lies in the middle of ChaTing avenue, and is the oldest church in Fuzhou. It was built as a cathedral in 1848 during the Qing Dynasty. The building is built in the Mediterranean Sea style and its floor space is 360 square meters.
In 1923, the episcopal throne was moved to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Fuzhou which was the largest church in Fujian.
During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, religious toleration was suppressed by the government, and the church was impropriated by a government factory. In 1983, the church was impropriated again by the children's hospital of Fuzhou, and the whole building was destroyed by order of the government.
In 1987 and 1992, the local government announced that the building would be protected as a cultural relic.
