PENGPU, DIOCESE of. — In the northern part of Anhwei province, in central China. It was established as an apostolic vicariate on 21 February 1929, with 21 civil subprefectures taken Wuhu (v.) and was entrusted to the Society of Jesus, which, for missionary work, sends there the fathers of the regular province of Turin, who had been present in the area since 1910. On 11 April 1946, with the establishment of the episcopal hierarchy in China, it was elevated to a suffragan diocese of Anking.
It covers an area of 60,000 sq. km. and in 1950 had approximately 9,500,000 inhabitants, of whom 64,334 were Catholics, with 13,270 catechumens; there were 6,000 Protestants and 100,000 Muslims. In addition to the bishop, there were 41 foreign fathers and 6 Chinese priests, 2 of them Jesuits; 3 major seminarians and 18 minor seminarians. Auxiliary personnel included 8 lay brothers, 59 sisters, 50 of them Chinese, 68 catechists, 350 teachers, 22 baptizers, and 9 nurses. There were also 26 primary and 209 secondary stations, with 86 churches and 23 parishes. The institutions included 27 dispensaries, 3 orphanages and 1 foundling home, 32 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 3 higher schools.
When, in 1842, the first French Jesuit missionaries were sent from the apostolic vicariate of Nanking to the civil province of Anhwei, it had only 441 faithful, survivors of the ancient Christians. In 1891 there were 28 missionaries, 25 residences, 138 Christian communities, 7,280 baptized persons, and 2,431 catechumens. Missionary work continued to grow, and the fruits were so abundant that in 1929 the sole apostolic vicariate of Wuhu, comprising the entire province, gave rise to the two new missions of Anking and P.; the latter then had 21 priests, 1 of them Chinese, 4 lay brothers, 5 coadjutor brothers, 119 Christian communities, 34,186 Christians, and 10,194 catechumens.