Kunming, Archdiocese of

KUNMING, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - The civil province of Yunnan, in southwest China, was detached from the mission of Szechwan and erected as an apostolic vicariate, under the name of Yunnan, on 28 Aug. 1840, and was entrusted, like the mother mission, to the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris.

On 28 July 1868 it ceded the district of Weisting to the mission of Lhasa or Tibet, today Kangting (v.); on 22 Nov. 1929, 33 civil sub-prefectures were detached from it, in order to create with them the present diocese of Tali (v.); and on 8 Apr. 1935, another 11 civil sub-prefectures, with which the apostolic prefecture of Chaotung was erected. On 3 Dec. 1924 it took the name of apostolic vicariate of Yunnanfu, from the capital city of the province, a city which in recent years reverted to being called K. On 11 Apr. 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, the apostolic vicariate of Yunnanfu was elevated to a metropolitan archdiocese, with Tali as suffragan, and on that occasion it received, also ecclesiastically, the name of K.

It has an area of 150,000 sq km. As of 30 June 1950, out of a population of about 8,000,000 inhabitants, there were 11,456 Catholics and 1,652 catechumens. Besides the archbishop, there were 24 missionaries of Paris; 22 Chinese secular priests; 5 priests, 2 brothers and 1 scholastic of the Salesians; 2 foreign and 2 Chinese Sulpician fathers assigned to the major seminary; 1 Camillian father and 2 brothers. The minor seminary had 36 students, the major seminary 10. The auxiliary personnel consisted of 19 foreign sisters, 75 Chinese and 2 Annamite, 18 catechists and 18 baptizers. The works consisted of 3 foundling homes with 261 children, 3 orphanages with 175 inmates, 1 hospice for the elderly with 338 patients, 1 boys' boarding school with elementary and secondary schools and 680 pupils, a girls' boarding school, also with elementary and secondary schools and 467 pupils. Another 8 elementary schools had 976 children and 3 secondary schools 396 students, 2 kindergartens gathered 130 children and 27 schools of prayer and first elements 620 listeners.

The civil province of Yunnan, detached like many others, on 15 Oct. 1696, from the diocese of Nanking, was supposed to have its own apostolic vicar, but in fact had none, and, united to the province of Kweichow, it then passed from 1715 to the Ordinaries of Szechwan, in whose hands it remained until 1840. Very few Christians, moreover, were there. Under Msgr. Pérocheau, apostolic vicar of Szechwan from 1838 to 1856, in Yunnan there was a single Chinese priest by the name of Wang.

Adamo Pucci