NINGVŪAN, DIOCESE of. - Erected as an apostolic vicariate under the name of Kientchang on 12 Aug. 1910, with territory detached from that of southern Szechwan (v. SUIFU), it received its present designation on 3 Dec. 1924, and on 11 Apr. 1946 was raised to the status of a suffragan diocese of Chungking. Like the mother mission, it is entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society.
It has an area of approximately 120,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1948, out of approximately 2,000,000 inhabitants, there were 10,968 Catholics and 1,950 catechumens. Besides the bishop, there were 19 Chinese, 12 French, and 2 Spanish priests. The auxiliary personnel numbered 34 sisters, of whom 23 were Chinese, 25 catechists, 37 teachers, 36 baptizers, 4 physicians, and 6 nurses. The territory, divided into 19 districts, had 19 principal stations and 190 secondary ones, 7 churches and 14 chapels. Its institutions included 2 hospitals, 4 medical dispensaries, 11 orphanages, 1 home for the aged; 1 leper colony; 12 elementary schools, 2 teacher-training schools, and 28 schools of prayer and elementary instruction.
The first three missionaries, sent to the Kientchang region by the apostolic vicar of southern Szechwan after 1860, met with little success. The work was resumed only toward the end of the century by other Paris Fathers, led by the provicar G. B. de Guébrant, later appointed first apostolic vicar of N. and subsequently transferred to Canton.