CHAOTUNG, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. — It is located in that northeastern part of the civil province of Yunnan (China) which projects between Szechwan and Kweichow. It was erected on 8 April 1935 with part of the territory of the apostolic vicariate of Yunnanfu, and entrusted to the Chinese secular clergy.
It has an area of 5,000 sq. km. The total population is approximately 2,000,000 inhabitants, mostly Chinese from Szechwan, but there are also a considerable number of Miao and Lolo aborigines. On 30 June 1947, there were 8,147 Catholics, 12 Chinese secular priests and 7 foreign priests (Italian Camillians), 5 foreign lay religious, and 6 sisters, 4 of them Chinese. The mission’s institutions include the preparatory and minor seminary, 4 orphanages, and 2 hospitals.