Arch. di Prop. Fide, Relazione N. 1949.
NINGSI, DIOCESE OF. - It is located in the southwestern part of Inner Mongolia (China) and comprises the three civil subprefectures situated west of the Suiyūan province, the entire province of N., part of the five northern subprefectures of Shansi, beyond the Great Wall, and four Mongolian principalities. The seat of the ordinary is Sanshengkung.
This territory, erected as an apostolic vicariate on March 14, 1922, by division from that of southwestern Mongolia, was elevated to a suffragan diocese of Suiyūan on April 11, 1946. On January 8, 1948, the part of the territory belonging to the civil subprefecture of Paotow was detached and incorporated into the neighboring archdiocese of Suiyūan. Over an area of 200,000 sq. km., the population is 1 million. Catholics number 31,827, with 3,622 catechumens.
In 1864, the Holy See assigned as a field of apostolate to the missionaries of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the region north of the Great Wall of China, geographically known as Inner Mongolia, which today comprises the provinces of Jehol, Chager, Suiyūan, and N. The first missionaries of Scheut, led by their founder, Fr. Verbist, arrived in Mongolia on December 6, 1875. At that time, Christians in Mongolia were few in number; however, by 1883 they had grown to 14,000. In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion caused the almost complete ruin of all the educational and charitable works that had been painstakingly organized. During World War II, only the territory of N. in Mongolia did not experience Japanese occupation. There are 33 native priests and 17 foreign missionaries; 2 major and 25 minor seminaries; 78 native nuns, and a school population of 3,444.