LANLUNG, DIOCESE of. — In south-central China. Established as an apostolic prefecture on 16 February 1922, comprising 9 civil subprefectures of the Kweiyang mission (v.) in the province of Kweichow and 4 subprefectures of the Nanning mission (v.) in the province of Kwangsi, it was raised to an apostolic vicariate on 27 April 1927 and, on 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, to a suffragan diocese of Kweiyang. It is entrusted to the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris.
It has an area of 45,000 sq km. On 30 June 1949, out of a population of 1,500,000 inhabitants, there were 11,429 Catholics and 5,314 catechumens. Besides the bishop, there were 17 Fathers of the Foreign Missions of Paris and 14 Chinese secular priests. Twenty students were studying in the preparatory seminary, 9 in the minor seminary, and 2 in the major seminary of Kweiyang. The auxiliary personnel consisted of 33 nuns, 26 of them Chinese; 43 teachers; and 54 catechists. The territory, divided into 19 stations with the missionary’s residence and 312 secondary stations, had 1 church and 41 public oratories. Its institutions included 2 hospitals, 11 dispensaries, 12 orphanages with 124 residents, and 1 home for the elderly with 80 residents. The 20 elementary schools had 278 children; the 27 schools of prayer and elementary instruction had 802 students.
Father Müller, sent to L. in 1863 by Msgr. Faurie, apostolic vicar of Kweichow, established a residence there, which was soon destroyed in a Muslim uprising, and Father Müller himself was massacred. He was succeeded in 1873 by Father Renau, founder of several Christian communities. Father Aubry subsequently established other centers, which gathered approximately 400 Christians and 2,000 catechumens. But the true founder of the mission among the Dioi (a primitive people comprising three-quarters of the population, especially numerous in the 4 civil subprefectures of the province of Kwangsi) was Father Alfonso Schotter (d. 1903), who in 15 years of apostolate opened more than 40 schools and laid the foundations of flourishing Christian communities. In 1910 there were 7,100 faithful.