KIAN, DIOCESE of. — In China, in the central-western part of the civil province of Kiangsi, which, having been separated from the civil province of Chekiang, with which it had formed a single mission since 1838, and erected into the apostolic vicariate of Kiangsi on 27 March 1846, was divided on 19 Aug. 1879 into the apostolic vicariate of Northern Kiangsi (v. NANCHANG) and the apostolic vicariate of Southern Kiangsi. The latter, whose capital was at K., on 25 Aug. 1920 ceded its southern part for the erection Kanchow (v.), received in exchange, to the north, several civil prefectures from the apostolic vicariate of Northern Kiangsi, and took the name of Kingan or K., from the city where the Ordinary resided. From the beginning it was entrusted to the Congregation of the Mission, which since 1922 has sent there the Italian Lazarists of the province of Turin for apostolic work. On 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, K. was raised to a suffragan diocese of Nanchang.
It has an area of approximately 37,000 sq. km. On 30 June 1947, out of a population of more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, there were 24,000 Catholics and 500 catechumens. In addition to the bishop, there were 15 Lazarists, 3 of them Chinese, and 11 Chinese secular priests. Twelve students were studying at the local minor seminary. There were also 6 lay brothers, only 1 of them Italian; 21 Chinese nuns; several doctors; various nurses; and an unspecified number of catechist teachers and baptizers. Among the institutions were 4 hospitals and 2 medical dispensaries, and 2 orphanages housing 300 inmates. The 10 elementary primary schools and the 5 secondary schools had more than 1,000 children; the 14 schools of prayer and elementary instruction had 260.
In 1594 the Catholic religion was introduced at Tsing Kiang and Ichun, important cities of the diocese of K. Fr. Matteo Ricci visited those Christians in 1596. Around the middle of the 17th century the region was visited by the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits; the Jesuit Fr. Giacomo Le Kanchow (v.) and another in the present diocese of K. In 1603 Fr. Adriano Greslon was at K.; in that same year the Franciscans possessed a church there and another at Nananfu. Continuous persecutions hindered Christianity in the 17th and 18th centuries; the Lazarists, who remained alone in the field after 1838, were likewise opposed. During the period 1794–95, the Lazarist Blessed Francesco Regis Clet, who died a martyr in 1820 in Hupeh, also ministered to the Christian communities of Tsing Kiang and Changshu. In the last 20 years K. has suffered immensely from revolutions, civil wars, and the war with Japan: many Christians died, as did several missionaries; the bishop himself was held captive for several months.