Deification of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Guanyin in the Catholic Madonna Images from Late-Ming China

CHEN Hui-hung

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CHEN Hui-hung. Deification of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Guanyin in the Catholic Madonna Images from Late-Ming China[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2018, 1(1): 61-75.

Citation:

CHEN Hui-hung. Deification of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Guanyin in the Catholic Madonna Images from Late-Ming China[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2018, 1(1): 61-75.

CHEN Hui-hung. Deification of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Guanyin in the Catholic Madonna Images from Late-Ming China[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2018, 1(1): 61-75.

Citation:

CHEN Hui-hung. Deification of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Guanyin in the Catholic Madonna Images from Late-Ming China[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2018, 1(1): 61-75.

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Deification of the Virgin Mary and the Cult of Guanyin in the Catholic Madonna Images from Late-Ming China

CHEN Hui-hung

Taiwan University

Received Date: 2016-04-06
Rev Recd Date: 2017-09-09

Abstract

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, a picture of a female figure with a child was discovered in Xi'an, China. There are two competing views on its origins:one is to link it to the Franciscan mission to China; the other to the Jesuits. For the former, the picture was identified as a white-robed Guanyin; the latter, a Chinese duplicate of an image of Madonna with Child from Rome. Thus in an intercultural setting, the figure of the picture could be identified as both the Buddhist Guanyin and the Catholic Virgin Mary. The complexity of image recognition in this case indicates that interactions of the Catholic Madonna Images with Chinese visual discourses went beyond Catholic iconography and missionary control. This article intends to offer a preliminary discussion of the Guanyin/Madonna iconography perceived in the Jesuit late-Ming context, a topic to which there has been surprisingly little attention. I demonstrate that during this period the central theme of the iconography was the concept of Madonna as the "Queen of Heaven." From this perspective, local agency would have exceeded Jesuit evangelistic strategy and the Virgin Mary could have been deified as an independent goddess. This would not only have offended Marian theology but would have provided the necessary context for associating images of Madonna with the cult of Guanyin.
- Madonna image or icon,
- Lord of Heaven,
- Immaculate Conception,
- Ting-yun Yang,
- St.Paul's Façade of Macao

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References(47)

References

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