Resurrection of a Sanctuary: The Dormition Church on the territory of Russian Embassy in Beijing

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This research study describes the history of the Church of the Dormition in Beijing from its foundation in 1732 to our days and important points about the life of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission and Russian embassy in China and Chinese embassy in Russia. The book tells readers how Orthodox missionaries, the first Russian sinologists, translators and diplomats appeared in China. Their years of work laid the primary foundation for Russian-Chinese relationships and cultural cooperation between people of Russia and China.

The fate of the Dormition Church, destroyed in the second part of the 1950-ies and used during 50 years as the embassy’s car garage is closely connected with the history of construction of Soviet embassy in China (1956-1959). So a lot in the book is devoted to the history of Russia, USSR and Russian Federation embassies in China and the history of how Chinese diplomatic representations and embassies in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kuibyshev appeared.

Special attention is given in the book to the description of works on restoration of the Dormition Church in 2008-2009 years and to show the revival of Orthodox life in China now using the example of the Orthodox community in Beijing that includes not only Russian residents but also orthodox believers from many other countries. Nowadays the church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is the only existing Orthodox Church in Beijing where regular worship services are being performed.

The book contains little known facts of archival documents and publications in Russian and Chinese languages, over 600 black-and-white and color illustrations,
including rare pictures. This information will be useful not only for understanding the situation of Orthodoxy in China in XIX-XX centuries and in our days, but also for studying the history of Russian-Chinese relations in general.

The book was exhibited at the 20th Beijing international book fair in 2013 and received a favourable response in the Russian and Chinese media, positive reviews of the Russian research and educational institutions, organizations of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The book became the winner of the competition of the Association of book publishers of Russia in the nomination "The Best edition 2013, contributing to the dialogue of cultures".