CHENGCHOW, DIOCESE of. - It is located in the civil province of Honan (China); erected as an apostolic prefecture on 15 May 1906 under the name of the apostolic prefecture of western Honan, with a territory twice as large as the present one. It was entrusted to the Pia società di S. Francesco Saverio per le missioni estere di Parma, whose fathers had been working there since 1904. On 2 May 1911 it was raised to an apostolic vicariate; on 3 Dec. 1924 it received the name of apostolic vicariate of C.; on 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, C. became a suffragan diocese of Kaifeng. On 25 May 1929 its extensive territory was divided and the mission of Loyang was erected.
Thus reduced, C. has an area of 18,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, the population was approximately 4,000,000, of whom 20,176 were Catholics, distributed among 15 principal stations and 132 secondary ones. There were 16 Italian missionaries and 13 Chinese priests; 4 foreign lay religious, and 88 nuns, of whom 72 were native. It suffered considerable damage from the war.