Sunday in Hangzhou

Seeing as we have been here for two months we decided it was time to go to church! So we get up  nice and early to catch the number 16 bus, positive that I knew the directions.  Why is it that distance on maps is sooo much further when you are walking AND running late.  We eventually find this beautiful old church.
Si Cheng Church , built in 1927 ,  is the second largest Protestant Church in Hangzhou. During the Cultural Revolution, the church was occupied by the Hangzhou Library. In 1981, according to the revised Chinese Government Religious Policy, Si-Cheng Church was reopened. The number of Christians increased every year. Now, there are three services every Sunday.
 We estimated that there were close to two thousand people at the morning service. Those that were not able to find seats in the main auditorium were accommodated in adjoining buildings with televisions screening the service. As we were late I expected we could sneak into the back row somewhere. NOT so!!! A well meaning usher ( woman) led us right down the centre isle to the front row, where the usher asked people to move so that we could be seated!! . Fortunately everyone was standing, singing hymns so I hope it wasn't too noticeable.  Ok, so we were the only non-Chinese people attending church and were escorted to the front , then politely asked if we need an English translation service and an English hymn book. I politely asked for a hymn book and sat down on hard wooden pews. (a prerequisite for protestant churches).
The Hymns were familiar, well the tunes were , so with 2000 people singing in Chinese we join in the singing in English!!  I  hope no-one could hear us! The Hymns are a collection of old western originated songs, interspersed with some local hymns and gospel songs. According to the Hymn book several songs have been adapted from tradition songs by the Miao ethnic people. ( ok, so i read the book when everyone had their eyes closed.) The hymn books were produced by the Chinese Christian Council and Three Self Movement . This is a Chinese Christian plan for church control as opposed to western influence and refers to 'self-governance, self-support, self-propagation' (自治、自养、自传).The indiginisation of Chinese Christian Churches was evident by the roll taken by the local Hangzhou people.
Interesting the ushers ( perhaps 6 or more ) were all woman , with a woman leading the service and a woman preaching, I could not see any men in leadership capacity, maybe today was a special day , further investigation is required!. The preaching was from the old testament reading , with many of the congregation taking notes. ( Christine spotted several younger woman covertly texting or playing angry birds on their phones)  The majority of the congregation were 50 years old plus with more woman than men.( Christine says 70+ years old)
After the service a quick look around shows a connection with the local community , hot and cold water  was provided afterwards and we noticed they also provided a health clinic service, perhaps an indicated of the age group. We couldn't help but notice the pathways around the church were gopher friendly as we were almost bowled over by three run away gophers.