Pingliang, Diocese of

PINGLIANG, DIOCESE of. - In the north-eastern part of the province of Kansu (northern China).

Established as an apostolic prefecture with 17 civil sub-prefectures detached Tsinchow (v.) on 25 Jan. 1930, it was entrusted to the Spanish Order of Friars Minor Capuchin of the regular province of Aragon. On 24 June 1950 it was raised to a diocese, suffragan to Lanchow.

In 1949, out of a total population of 1,700,000 inhabitants, there were 5,063 Catholics and 308 catechumens. Besides the Ordinary, there were 13 Chinese secular priests and 11 Spanish Capuchin fathers; 11 major seminarians and 17 minor seminarians. The auxiliary personnel comprised 4 Spanish Capuchin brothers, 7 Chinese sisters, 17 catechists, 13 teachers, 15 baptizers, and 8 nurses. There were 26 mission stations, dependent upon 13 churches and 25 chapels. The institutions consisted of 6 medical dispensaries, 3 orphanages, 2 homes for the aged, 3 elementary schools, and 6 prayer schools.

The first Catholics in the territory of P. were settlers who had immigrated from the neighboring provinces of Szechwan and Shensi, bordering on Kansu: 98 were counted near the city of Kingyang in 1880; others followed in 1891 in the civil subprefectures of Lingtae and Huating; by 1898 their number had risen to 700. From 1908 onward, the evangelization of the natives of P. began.