CHRISTMAS for Father Wu Jingwei will not be merry this year. He will be camping out with four other Roman Catholic priests, four monks, two nuns and two members of his flock in a crumbling Italianate villa in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. The house is a building site without heating, electricity or running water, but Father Wu refuses to budge.

His battle is for possession of this colonial era architectural gem. His opponent is the Tianjin city government. But he says he has faith that justice, and God, will ensure he triumphs.

Father Wu’s diocese in the northern province of Shanxi bought the villa, along with eight other buildings in Tianjin’s Italian concession, in three lots between 1911 and 1943. The buildings were confiscated by the Government in 1957, but in recognition of the church’s ownership the diocese continued to receive a peppercorn rent — except during the chaotic years of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution — until the end of 2003. Now the Shanxi Diocese wants the buildings back and the rents to resume, but the site lies at the heart of extravagant redevelopment plans for the port city. Father Wu Liqiang, born in the same Shanxi village as his colleague but no relative, said: “We want justice. We will continue to push for the return of our buildings. We have faith.”

The priests may be members of the official Catholic Church but they are well aware of the challenge they face in taking on the Communist Party. New churches are springing up as Beijing relaxes controls on religion, but China’s Christians have grown accustomed to persecution in recent decades and many prefer to worship in underground communities rather than to follow Communist-approved teachings.

These two softly spoken men are determined to prevail, saying that they trust not only in God but in the rule of law. They say the Tianjin government needs to follow the precepts laid down by Beijing. The properties were all supposed to be handed back to the Shanxi Diocese in 1993 as part of a government policy to wean the Chinese church from relying on overseas donations.

And so the priests travelled to Tianjin on December 15 to press their case.

In a group of 50 nuns, monks and priests, they stood outside the offices of the city government, singing hymns and waiting for their case to be heard.

When no response was forthcoming, they made their way to the cluster of brick and stucco villas they say they own in the heart of the port that serves Beijing. They set up home inside one of the pillared brick buildings.

The next day workers of the construction company that is renovating the houses appeared and tossed their makeshift stoves and heaters into the street. The workers attacked the group with iron rods, clubs and bricks, leaving several of the priests and nuns with injuries that required hospital treatment.

Father Wu Jingwei was undeterred. “We are priests, we don’t fight. But we have a right to be heard,” he said. As Christmas approached, city officials became anxious at the bad publicity stirred up by the stand-off with the small band of faithful from the official Catholic Church.

The United Front Department, which deals with non-Communist Party matters, appealed to the group to return home, assuring them that their case would be heard after Christmas.

Father Wu Jingwei persuaded most of the group to take the train back to Shanxi. Yesterday just 13 of the group remained. “We will not leave. We have written so many letters, made so many phone calls and sent so many people. This is our last resort. We hope to begin negotiations with officials on December 26,” he said.

The priests are not overly optimistic. They have been asked to provide evidence of ownership. “How can we? All the documentation was confiscated and lost in the Cultural Revolution.” If they had no claim to the building, why did the Tianjin religious real estate management company pay them rent for all those years — and compensation for the Cultural Revolution hiatus? Why did the company set up a board to manage the properties and never call a meeting?

It may not help their case that the buildings purchased from the Italian Consulate in the early years of the 20th century are in a prime site near the Tianjin railway station.

Yesterday uniformed police patrolled the cobbled streets. Posters lined the area of about six small city blocks, showing artist’s impressions of the boutique hotels, fashionable bars and trendy shops that will appear once the renovation is complete. Father Wu Liqiang said: “We understand that the property company has spent a lot of money, but they never asked our permission. We will not stop them, but first they must return our ownership rights to us.”

For now, the row has been postponed until after Christmas. “Last night, at last we had a silent night,” Father Wu said. He headed off to buy a little Christmas tree at the supermarket. In the freezing house, the remaining nuns and monks were setting up a manger for a Nativity scene. The group hope to eat a Christmas dinner of Shanxi-style noodles, huddled around a coal-fired stove. They will celebrate midnight Mass tonight without lights or heating but they will be in their own home.

Father Wu Jingwei said: “Pray for us.”

CLASH OF IDEOLOGIES

• There are 33 million Roman Catholics in China
• Chinese Catholics must worship in secret or in state-sanctioned churches that acknowledge Beijing as their authority
• Relations with the Catholic Church began to deteriorate in 1949 when the Communist Party came to power. Priests and worshippers were tortured and imprisoned
• The Government broke off relations with the Vatican in 1951
• After Mao’s death in 1976, Catholics were permitted to worship in state-sanctioned churches
• During the 1990s, attempts were made to restore the Vatican’s links with China. The Vatican agreed to cut ties with Taiwan and a papal visit was planned, but talks collapsed

Times Recommends

• Fish and chip shops ‘selling cobbler as cod’
• T in the Park festival at Kinross
• How to get Madonna’s Thighs