New and old, eastern and western, Shanghai has always been tolerant of diverse architectural styles and architects have his torically been given free reign to exercise their creativity. Sitting on the Route P. Henry East at the intersection of today’s Xinle road and North Xiangyang road, the Orthodox Church is both refined and unrestrained, resembling a large palace stretching down from the sky. Along with the towering Chinese parasol trees of Xiangyang park, the Orthodox Eastern Church has dramatically increased the appeal of this street that had previously experienced nothing more than several lackluster centuries of existence.

In 1928, Orthodox Eastern Archbishop Simon of Shanghai decided to construct a church on this piece of land inside the French Concession. His plan was thorough, but when he began collection money for the endeavor, he discovered that most Russian refugees had barely enough money for a church. Archbishop Simon decided to raise money through issuance of “church bonds” which began circulating in 1930. When Archbishop Simon died of illness and Archbishop Victor took over responsibility for the fund raising and church construction. The church was completed in February 1936, and it eventually becomes the seat of the Orthodox Eastern regional bishop of Shanghai.

The church interior is plain with little decoration other than grease paint adornments which are frequently found in Russian churches.

Closely linked to the fate of Shanghai’s Russian community, the church blossomed under the community’s rise and tall with their disappearance. In 1965, the passing of Shanghai’s last Eastern Orthodox Bishop led to the church’s total abandonment, turning it into an unmanaged orphaned building. Later, the church enjoyed a brief resurrection as the Shanghai electric vacuum parts institute and much later became the Aluoha Music Dome Restaurant. Today the church has been abandoned once again. Unfortunately, the general public is not allowed to tour the church interior. Tourists must appreciate the church from the outside.

There is a model train store right next door to the Orthodox Eastern Church selling miniature replicas of every train that has ever been used in China. Expect to pay between 100 RMB and 200 RMB per unit. The store also carries curious little trains that move on their own. If you are not a model train enthusiast, you will still get a kick out of the store’s personnel who are all dressed in train attendant uniforms.

(Since the separation of the church in the eleventh century, in the 16th century the Russia Orthodox Church became the largest church in Eastern Orthodoxy. When the Eight-power allied forces invaded China, The Qing government agreed in a humiliating treaty to allow Czarist Russia to establish churches in China. In 1920, Russia received the right to establish churches in Shanghai. After the October revolution of 1917, waves of Russian refugees flooded into northeastern China and Shanghai. Shanghai’s White Russians settled in the Zhabei district and onto Avenue Joffre turning it into a center of Russian activity.