Charity Mansion

In 1862, Beijing missionary bishop Joseph-Martial Mouly [fr] brought 14 nuns of the Daughters of Charity from Europe to China.

[1] A church and other buildings (including an orphanage and a hospital) for use by the nuns were constructed from 1867 to 1868 at a location near the west side of the Haihe river.

[citation needed] Rumours spread in Tianjin that the nuns were kidnapping and abusing children at the orphanage.

[citation needed] At the time of the communist takeover of China in 1949, the orphanage had 471 orphans being taken care of by the nuns.

[citation needed] In 2009, several Daughters of Charity nuns in Tianjin went on a hunger strike in protest of plans to demolish the site entirely to facilitate new construction development.