KIAN, DIOCESE OF. — In China, in the central-western part of the civil province of Kiangsi, which, separated from the civil province of Chekiang with which it formed a single mission since 1838, and erected into the Apostolic Vicariate of Kiangsi on 27 March 1846, on 19 August 1879 it was divided into the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Kiangsi (v. NANCHANG) and the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Kiangsi. The latter, which had its seat at K., on 25 August 1920 ceded the southern part for the erection of the Apostolic Vicariate of Kanchow (v.) and in exchange received, from the north, from the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Kiangsi, some civil prefectures, and took the name of Kiangsi 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 Italian Lazarists from the province of Turin for the apostolic work. On 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, K. was elevated to a diocese, a suffragan of Nanchang.
It has an area of approximately 37,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a population of over 3,000,000 inhabitants, there were 24,000 Catholics and 500 catechumens. Besides the bishop, there were 15 Lazarists, of whom 3 were Chinese, and 11 Chinese secular priests. In the local minor seminary, 12 students were enrolled. There were also 6 lay brothers, of whom only 1 was Italian, 21 Chinese sisters, several doctors, various nurses, and an unspecified number of catechist-teachers and baptizers. Among the works were 4 hospitals and 2 medical dispensaries, 2 orphanages with 300 residents. The 10 primary schools and 5 secondary schools had more than 1,000 children; the 14 prayer and elementary schools had 260.
In 1594 the Catholic religion was introduced at Tsing Kiang and Ichun, important cities of the diocese of K. In 1596 Fr. Matteo Ricci visited those Christians. Around the middle of the 17th century the region was visited by Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits; the Jesuit Fr. Giacomo Le Favre built a church at Kanchow (v.) and another in the present diocese of K. In 1693 Fr. Adriano Greslon was at K.; in the same year the Franciscans had a church there and another at Nananfu. Continuous persecutions hindered Christianity in the 17th and 18th centuries, though the Lazarists, who remained alone in the field after 1838, were also opposed. During the period 1794-95, the blessed Lazarist Fr. Francis 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 greatly from revolutions, civil wars, and the war with Japan: many Christians died, as well as some missionaries; the bishop himself was held captive for several months.