YUNGCHOW, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE OF. - In the southern part of the province of Hunan (central China).
It was erected on 12 May 1925 with 21 civil subprefectures from the apostolic vicariate of Changsha and entrusted to the Franciscan Friars Minor of Bolzano. On 3 June 1938 it ceded 9 civil Paoting (v.).
Area: 44,000 sq. km. with approx. 5,000,000 inhabitants, of whom 3,000 are Catholic; priests: 11 (2 Chinese); sisters: 17 (2 native); 1 hospital, 3 dispensaries, 2 orphanages. The 9 elementary and 2 professional schools had already been closed (30 June 1947).
The beginnings of the faith date back to the early years of the last century. The first apostles were people who, having gone to the nearby region of Szechwan for commerce or work, there embraced Catholicism, and on returning, shared it with their families and fellow villagers. The first missionaries were the Chinese priests Nicola Ho, from the province of Szechwan, and Giuseppe Tsung, from the province of Kwangtung, both former students of the College of Naples, founded by the Venerable Matteo Ripa. The first European missionary was Fr. Giovanni Lantrua da Triora (v.), who died a martyr at Changsha on 13 February 1816 and was beatified in 1900. Yet development was slow: before the Boxer persecution (1907), there was no church or oratory in any city, and the few Christians were scattered in the countryside of four districts. By 1925 preaching had been extended to 12 districts, and the cities had churches or oratories, with about 7,000 Christians.