KICHOW, Diocese of. - In the eastern part of the civil province of Hupeh, in central China. Erected as a mission *sui iuris* under the name of Hwangchow on 18 July 1929, by division of the Apostolic Vicariate of Hankow (q.v.), on 19 June 1932 it was raised to the status of an Apostolic Prefecture, and on 27 January 1936 to that of an Apostolic Vicariate. On this occasion, the mission took the name of K. from the city which had been the seat of the Ordinary from the beginning, and was enlarged by the addition of the district of Yingshan, detached from the neighboring mission of Anking. With the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China on 11 April 1946, K. became a suffragan diocese of Hankow. From 1929 onwards it was entrusted, like the mother mission, to the Friars Minor, who sent religious from the Regular Province of St. Vigilius (Trento); the fathers had been present in the area since 1922.
It covers an area of 26,400 sq. km. As of 30 June 1948, out of a population of approximately 3,800,000 inhabitants, there were 15,750 Catholics and 516 catechumens. Besides the bishop, there were 25 Franciscan friars, of whom one was Chinese. The preparatory seminary had 17 students; none in the minor seminary, and one in the regional seminary of Hankow. Among the auxiliary personnel were 9 sisters, 4 Italian and 5 Chinese; 42 catechists, 49 teachers, 15 baptizers, 6 doctors and 9 nurses. The territory, divided into 5 districts, had 6 churches and 55 oratories, 16 primary stations and 49 secondary ones. The works included 1 hospital with 12 beds and 9 medical dispensaries; 1 orphanage with 24 girls; 1 hospice for the elderly with 8 residents. The 10 elementary schools had 299 children, the 2 middle schools 423 students, the single vocational school 38 pupils, and the 6 prayer and elementary schools 130 listeners. Since 1948, a dozen Discalced Carmelite friars from the Venetian province have been working in the northern part of the diocese of K., with a view to preparing a mission for their own Order.
Christianity was introduced into the region of K. in 1702 by two Jesuit fathers who settled in a small house at Hwangchow. The two Christian communities of Kwangsi and Hupeh, begun in 1830 by some Catholic merchants who had immigrated from Kwangsi, were assisted by the missionaries of this province until the Apostolic Vicariate of Hukwang (Hupeh and Hunan) was transferred to the Franciscans in 1838, after which Christian propaganda could spread to other localities in the region.