KAIFENG, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — In the civil province of Honan, in central China. Erected as an autonomous mission under the name of Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Honan on 21 Sept. 1916, by division of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Honan (v. NANYANG), and entrusted, like the mother mission, to the then Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions of Milan, it took the name of the city of K. on 3 Dec. 1924; on 15 Dec. 1927 it ceded certain civil subprefectures which, together with others from the mission of Nanyang, gave rise to the Apostolic Prefecture of Sinyangchow (v. HINAYANA) and on 19 June 1928 it was divided to give birth to the present diocese of Kweiteh (v.). With the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China on 11 Apr. 1946, K. was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese of the ecclesiastical province of Honan, with as suffragan dioceses Chengchow, Chumatien, Kweiteh, Loyang, Nanyang, Sinyang and Weihwei.
It has an area of 24,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a population of approx. 4,500,000 inhabitants, there were 18,018 Catholics and 970 catechumens. Besides the archbishop, there were 17 Italian priests and 11 Chinese. The minor seminary had 7 alumni, the philosophy students numbered 3, and 3 theology students from K. were studying at the regional seminary of Honan, which has its seat in K. Among the auxiliary personnel there were 2 Italian brothers, 92 sisters, of whom 65 were Chinese, and 22 catechists. In the 18 ecclesiastical districts, corresponding to the 18 civil prefectures, there were 162 Christian communities; these were gathered in 19 primary stations and 162 secondary ones, with 17 churches, 28 oratories and 34 chapels. There were 9 primary schools with 1,669 children, 2 secondary schools with 1,302 pupils, and 7 prayer and elementary schools with 275 attendees. Among the works were 1 orphanage with 39 residents, 1 hospital with 40 beds and 12 medical dispensaries. The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, which has 5 missions in China, has built in K., the capital of the civil province of Honan, the regional house for the study of the Chinese language and the immediate preparation for the apostolic life of its missionaries.
It is not known who was responsible for the first Christian preaching in K. It seems that in 1605, besides a colony of Jews, there was a nucleus of descendants of ancient Christians who called themselves “Cross-worshippers” (Nestorians), who then disappeared. In the 17th century, several Jesuit religious resided in K., including Frs. Trigault, Sambiasi, Figueredo, Herdrich and Gozzani, but the persecution of 1724 erased all memory of their ministry, so much so that in 1837 the Bl. Perboyre found only about ten Christians in K., who were clockmakers by profession and originally from Peking: subsequently they too disappeared. Throughout the 19th century no missionary was able to establish himself in K.; finally, in 1902-1904, the then Fr. Tacconi succeeded, who was later the first Apostolic Vicar of K. and to whose activity is owed the great development achieved by the mission.