LINTUNG, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. — In western Manchuria. It was erected on 18 May 1937, with 7 civil sub-prefectures, detached from the Apostolic Vicariate of Szepinghai (now a diocese) and entrusted to the Society of Foreign Missions of the Province of Quebec (Pont-Viau).
The first missionaries of Pont-Viau, three in number, arrived in Manchuria in 1925; by 1936 there were 36, and 42 in 1937, to which were added three clerics from St. Viator of Montreal (Canada). The missionaries of the Scheut Congregation, coming from the Apostolic Vicariate of Jehol, had established some villages of Catholic tenant farmers; at Tiangse first, and then at Ounioutai and Haobatu, considerable groups of Chinese Catholics settled. Thus three stations of resident faithful and a population of more than 4,000 Catholics had come into being. The Mongols of this region — men commonly, women rarely — speak the Chinese language. It is to be noted that once converted, the Mongol remains faithful and fervent.