Diocese of Wanxian
diocese of the Catholic Church in China
The Diocese of Wanxian (formerly spelled Wanhsien; Latin: Dioecesis Uanscienensis; Chinese: 天主教萬縣教區), also known as Diocese of Wanzhou, is a Latin Catholic diocese located in Wanzhou District (formerly Wanxian), Chongqing in the ecclesiastical province of Chongqing, in the easternmost part of western China. It was established on August 2, 1929 as the Apostolic Vicariate of Wanhsien for the Mission of Sichuan (Szechwan).
Territory
The Diocese of Wanxian covers Wanzhou District (Ouan-hien) and eight counties in the mountainous area of northern Chongqing, namely, Chengkou, Fengjie, Kaixian, Liangping, Wushan, Wuxi, Yunyang and Zhongxian, totaling approximately 20,000 square kilometers. It is bordered by the Diocese of Shunqing to the west, Diocese of Shinan to the east, Apostolic Prefecture of Xing'anfu to the north, and Archdiocese of Chongqing to the south and southwest.
History
August 2, 1929: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Wanhsien (Ouan-hien) from the Apostolic Vicariate of Chungking (Chongqing; Tchong-kin-fou)
April 11, 1946: Promoted as Diocese of Wanhsien
Special churches
Sacred Heart Church at Longbao (龍寶鎭聖心堂), a town located in the suburbs of Wanxian.
Bishops
Vicar Apostolic of Wanhsien
Francis Xavier Wang Zepu (Wang Tse-pu) (December 16, 1929 – April 11, 1946)
Bishop of Wanhsien
Francis Xavier Wang Zepu (Wang Tse-pu) (April 11, 1946 – July 3, 1947)
Bishops of Wanxian
Matthias Duan Yinming (Tuan In-Min) (June 9, 1949 – January 10, 2001)
Joseph Xu Zhixuan (Appointed Coadjutor Bishop July 31, 1989; succeeded as ordinary on Jan 10, 2001; died Dec 8, 2008)
Paul He Zeqing (December 13, 2008 – Present)
See also
Anglican Diocese of Szechwan
References
"Diocese of Wanxian". gcatholic.org. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
"Diocese of Wanxian [Wanhsien]". catholic-hierarchy.org.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Diocese of Wanxian” as diocese of the Catholic Church in China. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as diocese of the Catholic Church in China. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 8, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q878009. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 1946, 1947 and 1949.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Diocese of Wanxian” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.