KWEIYANG, ARCHDIOCESE OF
The civil province of Kweichow, in south-central China, was detached from the diocese of Nanking on 15 Oct. 1696 and erected as an apostolic vicariate. It soon passed (in 1715) under the administration of the apostolic vicar of Szechwan, until it was reconstituted as the apostolic vicariate of Kweichow on 27 March 1846 and entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society. On 3 Dec. 1924 it took its name from K., the provincial capital and seat of the ordinary. On 16 Feb. 1922 it ceded 9 civil subprefectures to form, together with 4 others from Kwangsi (v. NANNING), ANLUNG (v.). On 23 March 1932 it ceded a further 27 civil subprefectures Shihtsien (v.) among the Miao tribes. With the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China on 11 Apr. 1946, K. was raised to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese with the diocese of Lanlung as its suffragan.
It covers an area of 94,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, with a total population of about 7,000,000, there were 24,702 Catholics and 453 catechumens. Besides the archbishop, there were 49 Chinese and 16 foreign priests. The preparatory seminary had 25 students, the minor seminary 35, and the major seminary 15 philosophers and 13 theologians. Among auxiliary personnel there were 49 Chinese and 17 foreign sisters, as well as a number of teachers and baptizers. The territory, divided into 5 districts, had 10 churches and 74 oratories, 31 primary stations and 410 secondary stations. The works included a hospital with 40 beds, 2 orphanages with 37 residents, 2 medical dispensaries, 2 secondary schools and 34 primary schools with a total of 3,354 pupils.
Christianity, introduced by immigrants from Szechwan in the 17th century, made little progress owing to nearly uninterrupted persecutions until 1896. Many Christians were killed or suffered imprisonment and exile; among them are to be remembered the martyrs beatified in 1900 and 1905. Between 1896 and 1911 the mission enjoyed steady growth, but in 1926–27 it again suffered severe setbacks, including famine and revolutionary disturbances.