Lawrence Zhang Wen-Chang (1920 – February 5, 2012) was a Chinese

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. The

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

appointed Zhang Wen-Chang as Apostolic Administrator of three

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

s or ecclesiastical territories in the

Chinese province The provincial level administrative divisions () are the highest-level administrative divisions of China. There are 34 such divisions claimed by the People's Republic of China, classified as 23 provinces (), five autonomous regions, four muni ...

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

in 2000 – the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kunming The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kunming ( la, Coenmimen(sis), ) is an archdiocese located in the city of Kunming in China. The Archdiocese has not had a legitimate, Vatican-appointed Archbishop since 1952, when French Archbishop Alexandre Der ...

, the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Dali The Roman Catholic Diocese of Dali/Tali ( la, Talian(us), ) is a diocese located in the city of Dali in the Ecclesiastical province of Kunming in China. In 2000, the Vatican appointed Lawrence Zhang Wen-Chang as Apostolic Administrator of Dal ...

, and the

Apostolic Prefecture of Zhaotong The Apostolic Prefecture of Zhaotong is an Apostolic Prefecture (Latin pre-diocesan missionary jurisdiction, not entitled to a titular bishop), of the Catholic Church with seat in the city of Zhaotong, in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan ...

. He served in that position as an official, underground representative of the Vatican until his death in 2012. The underground Catholic Church has approximately 60,000 members in Yunnan, mostly composed of ethnic minorities.

Biography

Zhang Wen-Chang was born in 1920. He was a member of the Sani

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

, a subgroup of the

Yi people The Yi or Nuosu people,; zh, c=彝族, p=Yízú, l=Yi ethnicity historically known as the Lolo,; vi, Lô Lô; th, โล-โล, Lo-Lo are an ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with eac ...

, an ethnic group from China and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. He enrolled in a Catholic seminary when he was twelve years old. He then graduated from the major seminary in Kunming and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

in 1946. He worked as a priest at the

Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus , image = Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.jpg , caption = The Cathedral's front entrance , denomination = Roman Catholic , diocese = Melaka-Johor , parish = , division = , subdivis ...

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

following his ordination. In 1953, the Communist government forced Zhang Wen-Chang to raise

rabbits Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...

and

chickens The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

in the aftermath of the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (ROC ...

. In 1958, Father Zhang Wen-Chang was arrested, charged with "counter revolutionary crimes", and imprisoned. He was held in a Chinese

Reform through labor ''Laogai'' (), short for ''laodong gaizao'' (), which means reform through labor, is a criminal justice system involving the use of penal labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and North Korea (DPRK). ''Láogǎi'' i ...

farm from 1962 to 1982. Upon his release, he began working part-time. He rejoined the Church as a full-time

again in 1987. In 2000, the Vatican appointed Zhang Wen-Chang as the

of the

, the

, and the

. The Archdiocese of Kunming had been without a Vatican-mandated head since Archbishop Alexandre Derouineau was expelled from the country in 1952. (The

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

had appointed two priests affiliated with the

Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association The Catholic Patriotic Association (), abbreviated CPA, is a state-sanctioned organization of Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the Chi ...

as archbishops, but they were not recognized by the Vatican since they were not appointed by the papacy). Zhang Wen-Chang lived in Kumning during his tenure as Apostolic Administrator. As a leader within the underground Chinese Catholic Church, Zhang Wen-Chang was affiliated and officially recognized by the Holy See. He had no recognition from the government of the People's Republic of China, and was kept under police and government

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

. He was diagnosed with

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include difficulty in swallowing and weight loss. Other symptoms may include pain when swallowing, a hoarse voice ...

in October 2011. He died in his hometown in the

Shilin Yi Autonomous County Shilin Yi Autonomous County (: Sani: ) is an autonomous county, under the jurisdiction of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, China. Etymology Lunan Yi Autonomous County () is the former name of Shilin, and usually be called for short as ...

on February 5, 2012, at the age of 92. His funeral included a seven-day viewing, according to Sani ethnic traditions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Lawrence, Wen-Chang 1920 births 2012 deaths Chinese prisoners and detainees 20th-century Chinese Roman Catholic priests People from Kunming 21st-century Chinese Roman Catholic priests