Title: Visual Interpretation of the Catholic Biblical Woodblocks by Shanghai T'ou-s-w Gallery of Art

AuthorChen Huanqiang


Journal of Catholic Studies, 2012, Vol.9:340-362
BeijingReligious Cultural Press .

Abstract

Image narrative is important means to influence individuals or social groups by attractive or provocative pictures. Biblical woodblocks were

used in the Christian mission in China, and this provoked competition with other religions and folk beliefs in China. Images were widely applied

in the publication of Shanghai Tou Se We Art and Craft center in the late Qing. Biblical woodblocks are not only a branch of the Biblical arts,

but also the cultural carrier of the intercourse between Christianity and the mass of China. The influence of Chinese Biblical woodblocks was

hampered by opposition to it and the anti-Christian forces. This essay, based on the collation of Christian woodblocks, attempts to compare the

images with the text of Chinese Bible, and to research to the characters of the visual interpretation of Chinese Bible and their cultural functions.