KAYING (KIAYING), Diocese of. — In the civil province of Kwangtung (southern China), erected as an apostolic prefecture on 20 February 1929 by division of the mission of Swatow (v.) and entrusted to the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America (Maryknoll); raised on 18 June 1935 to an apostolic vicariate and on 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, to a diocese suffragan of Canton.
It has an area of 67,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, with a population of approximately 2,600,000 inhabitants, there were 19,411 Catholics and 378 catechumens. Besides the bishop, there were 30 priests, of whom 11 belonged to the Chinese secular clergy; 36 students were enrolled in the minor seminary, while in the regional seminary, Hong-Kong (v.), there were 5 philosophers and 5 theologians for K. There were 14 sisters, all American, who, among other works, were engaged in forming a native religious congregation for women, for which purpose they had gathered 17 young women. There were 56 catechists and 31 teachers. The territory, on which were scattered 19 churches and 13 chapels, was divided into 26 parishes and 314 secondary stations. There were also 1 hospice for the elderly and 9 dormitories for pupils attending government schools; 16 elementary schools with 978 children, and 15 prayer and elementary instruction groups with 1,070 listeners.
The beginnings of Christianity in the region of K. are recent, dating only to 1845 and then to 1850 and 1861 through the efforts of Christians who had immigrated there from Malaysia, Siam, and Canton; in 1850 the first French missionaries were sent, who encountered many difficulties and some local persecution during the Franco-Chinese War (1884–85). Difficulties and hardships were also suffered by the new American missionaries in the early years of the Second World War.