Melchior Zhang Kexing (; 6 January 1914 – 6 November 1988) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Catholic priest and Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Xiwanzi The Roman Catholic Diocese of Xiwanzi/Chongli ( la, Sivanzean(us), ) is a diocese located in the city of Xiwanzi in the Ecclesiastical province of Suiyuan in China. History * August 20, 1840: Established as Apostolic Vicariate of Mongolia 蒙� ...

between 1951 and 1988.

Biography

Melchior Zhang Kexing was born into a wealthy family in Xiwanzi of

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southw ...

, Chahar province, on 6 January 1914. He was ordained a priest on 18 March 1939. He became Auxiliary Bishop of the

on 3 November 1949. On 24 May 1951, Bishop Leon-Jean-Marie De Smedt of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

held a consecration ceremony for him. On 24 November 1951, Bishop Leon-Jean-Marie De Smedt died in the prison of

, and Melchior Zhang Kexing took over as Bishop. The Communist government also arrested Melchior Zhang Kexing, who was sentenced to 10 years of forced labour camp for opposing the triple autonomy of the churches, which involved breaking ties with the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. In 1979, still a prisoner, he was transferred to

Baoding Baoding (), formerly known as Baozhou and Qingyuan, is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants out of which 2,176,857 lived in the b ...

as an interpreter, which significantly improved his living conditions. In February 1985, he lived with his sister in

Xuanhua District Xuanhua is an urban district of Zhangjiakou in northwestern Hebei Province, China. Xuanhua is a very old city with a rich military and agricultural history. Xuanhua was historically the "Gateway to Beijing", which lies to its southeast. As a c ...

, where he died on 6 November 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Melchior, Kexing 1914 births 1988 deaths People from Zhangjiakou 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in China