SUIHSIEN, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. - In the north-eastern part of the province of Hupeh, in central China.
It was erected on 17 June 1937 from 3 civil sub-prefectures of the apost. Hankow (v.) and was entrusted to the Order of Friars Minor, which, for missionary work, sends there religious from the Irish regular province of S. Patrizio.
It has an area of 12,000 sq. km. As of 30 June 1947, out of a total population of approx. 1,200,000 inhabitants, there were 8,886 Catholics; 15 foreign priests and 3 Chinese; 7 major seminarians and 20 minor seminarians; 5 sisters, all Chinese. Its works included 2 hospitals, 4 medical dispensaries, 1 orphanage, and 51 schools with 2,885 pupils.
The first preaching of the Gospel in the territory of S. dates back to the second half of the 17th century; in 1686 the Jesuit Giacomo Motel erected a church in Anlu, the chief town of the civil sub-prefecture of the same name. At the time of its erection, there were 7,000 Catholics and 1,300 catechumens, with 13 churches and 29 oratories.