Peter Fan Wenxing (; 27 January 1921 – 28 February 2006) 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 ...
Jing County, Hebei
Jing County or Jingxian () is a county in Hengshui, Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and has 500,000 inhabitants. Its seat is the town of Jingzhou ().
Administrative divisions
China on January 27, 1921. Fan began at junior seminary in 1935. He then studied at major seminars in Jing County and
Beijing
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Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
between 1941 and 1947. He was ordained a priest on May 30, 1948. He studied at Fu Jen Catholic University in Beijing. In 1950, he was appointed administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hengshui when the foreign missionaries were expelled. He worked as a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
at a hospital and preached until the outbreak of the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
in 1966. He was then sent to reform by working with salt extraction. In 1979, he returned to Jing County and worked at a county hospital. After he became bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hengshui in 1981, he established a junior seminary and built new churches. He wrote a short diocese story and dictated to his memory the constitution that had been lost to the sisters during the reigns of the Cultural Revolution. Fan retired in 1999 and was succeeded by Bishop
Mathias Chen Xilu
Mathias Chen Xilu (; 6 February 1928 – 16 January 2008) was a Chinese Roman Catholic bishop of Hengshui, Hebei. He had been appointed to his post by the Vatican, and had been recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China.
Life ...
. Both Fan and Chen were approved by the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
and recognized by the Communist government. He died on February 28, 2006.