CANTON, ARCHDIOCESE of. - It takes its name from the city of the same name, residence of the archbishop and capital of the civil province of Kwangtung (south-eastern China). The Christian origins of C. go back to St. Francis Xavier.
The territory of the mission formed part, until 1850, of the diocese of Macao; in that year the apostolic prefecture of Kwangtung and Kwangsi was erected and entrusted to the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris; in 1875 the two civil provinces were divided into two distinct apostolic prefectures: Kwangtung and Kwangsi. On 6 Apr. 1914 that of Kwangtung was raised to an apostolic vicariate under the name of C., from which various territories were detached in subsequent years.
On 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, C. was raised to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese.
The territory has an area of 43,332 sq. km.; as of 30 June 1947 the total population was approximately 4,600,000 inhabitants, of whom only 17,145 were Catholics. The missionary personnel consisted of 28 foreign priests and 41 Chinese priests. There were 117 sisters, of whom 62 were native. On the above-mentioned date the mission also had 3 orphanages with 220 orphans, 1 hospital with 512 beds, and 1 hospice with 109 residents. There were 35 primary and secondary schools, with a total of 3,307 pupils.