HAIMEN, DIOCESE of. — It is situated in east-central China, north of the Blue River. It was erected as an apostolic vicariate on 11 August 1926, with territory detached from the mission of Nanjing, which at that time comprised the entire civil province of Kiangsu, and was entrusted to the Chinese secular clergy. On 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, it was elevated to a suffragan diocese of Nanjing.
It has an area of 13,500 sq km. On 30 June 1947, among a population of approximately 5,000,000 inhabitants, there were 39,744 Catholics and 175 catechumens. In addition to the bishop, there were 42 Chinese priests and 3 foreigners. The auxiliary personnel consisted of 50 indigenous nuns and 9 foreigners, together with an unspecified number of catechists, teachers, and baptizers, which had been quite large in previous years. The minor seminary had 13 students, as did the preparatory seminary. At the regional seminary of Kiangsu in Zikawei, near Shanghai, the diocese of H. had 11 seminarians, 4 studying philosophy and 7 theology. Among its institutions, reduced and hampered by the war, were 4 secondary schools with 493 pupils, 52 primary schools with 2,787 pupils, and 75 schools of prayer and elementary instruction with 1,247 attendees. There were also 2 orphanages with 41 residents and 38 medical dispensaries, which during the 1946–47 year had provided 35,875 consultations.
Christian beginnings in this mission date back to the 17th century, when in 1638 the Jesuit Fr. Brancati arrived on the island of Tsungming, at the mouth of the Blue River, and found a collaborator in his apostolate in the Chinese physician Siu Ki-youn and a benefactress in Candida Hiu, also Chinese.