Giuseppe Castiglione, a Jesuit lay brother who came of age in
18th-century Italy, picked up a paintbrush for Christ, made
the trek to China and became the court painter for an emperor
famous for patronizing the arts. Now, paintings by Lang
Shining – his adopted Chinese name – are among the Palace
Museum’s collection of more than a million artifacts from the
Ming and Qing dynasties. It’s not every Westerner whose
creations are housed in Beijing’s Forbidden City, but Lang
Shining was not like most Westerners in China at that time.
The documentary film, “Giuseppe Castiglione in China:
Imperial Painter, Humble Servant,” screening April 14 at St.
John Baptist De La Salle Church in Chillum, Md., follows the
missionary’s unusual story.
The film details how Lang Shining quickly took to court
culture while also standing up for Catholicism in a land
where it was not widely understood. It also focuses on his
abilities as an artist notable for blending Italian and
Chinese styles.
Three presentations will follow the screening. Keynote
speakers will include Rose Nan-Ping Chen, president of the
Rose Group for Cross-Cultural Understanding, a Richmond-based
nonprofit co-sponsoring the event; Robert Daly, director of
the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, part
of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in
Washington; and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, counselor at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.
“Giuseppe Castiglione in China” was produced by American
Jesuit Father Jerry Martinson of the Taiwan’s Kuangchi
Program Service and China’s Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation.
The film is the third in a series about Jesuit missionaries
in China. Paul Xu Gangqui and Johann Adam Schall con Bell are
the subjects of two other documentaries that have been
broadcast multiple times in China and seen by millions. The
films were produced in time to commemorate the Palace
Museum’s 90th anniversary this year.
The version of “Giuseppe Castiglione in China” screening
April 14 has been abridged for an English-speaking audience.
In January, the same version of the film was screened at a
smaller event at Georgetown University in Washington but this
event is expected to draw more members of the general public,
said Carolyn Ng, one of the screening’s organizers. She added
that these documentaries help “the Chinese learn about the
missionary motivation of these characters and their
contributions to the cultural and scientific development of
China.”
Ng is a member of Sapientia, St. John Baptist de la Salle
Church’s “think” group for college students and young working
professionals. (The name means “knowledge” in Latin.)
Sapientia is co-sponsoring the screening with the Rose Group
for Cross-Cultural Understanding.
“Something like this is rare, so we are blessed to have it so
close,” wrote Corinne Monogue, director of the Arlington
Diocese’s Office of Multicultural Ministries.
If you go
Screening at St. John Baptist de la Salle Church, 5706
Sargent Rd., Chillum at 5:30 p.m. The first talk begins at
6:15 p.m. RSVP by April 11 at [email protected].
Stoddard can be reached at [email protected].
