In 1926, Pope Pius XI created a native Chinese hierarchy by appointing as vicars apostolic the two Chinese priests who, a few years before, had been made the first native Chinese prefects apostolic, and by subdividing several other existing vicariates apostolic, then headed by European or American missionary bishops, to create four additional vicariates apostolic, each to be headed by ethnic Chinese.

The two existing apostolic prefectures that in 1926 were made into vicariates apostolic were:

1. 1) P'u-ch'i (Pu-qi) in Hu-pei (Hu-bei) Province;
2. 2) An-kuo (An-guo) in Ho-pei (He-bei) Province.

The four vicariates apostolic in 1926 carved out of others already existing were:

1. 1) Hsüan-hua (Xuan-hua) in Ho-pei (He-bei) Province;
2. 2) Fen-yang (Fen-yang) in Shan-si (Shan-xi) Province;
3. 3) Hai-men (Hai-men) in Kiang-si (Jiang-xi) Province; and
4. 4) T'ai-chou (Tai-zhou) in Che-chiang (Zhe-jiang) Province.

The six Chinese priests appointed as titular bishops to head these six vicariates thereby become the first ethnic Chinese to be made Roman Catholic bishops since Msgr. Lo Wen-tsao almost two and a half centuries earlier.

The six priests all traveled, together with Archbishop Costantini to Rome, where on October 26, 1926, in St. Peter's Basilica, they were personally consecrated bishops by Pope Pius XI.

Within fifteen years, the number of ethnic Chinese bishops had increased from 6 to 23.

Appointment Date	Consecration Date	Consecration Place	Principal Consecrator	Co-Consecrator(s)	Bishop Consecrated	Titular See/ Vicariate or Prefecture	Vital Statistics
	26 October 1926	Rome, Italy	Pope Pius XI		Chen Guo-di Aloysius, OFM	TB of Attuda/ VA of Fen-yang in Shan-si
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Cheng He-de Odoric, OFM	TB of Cotenna/ PA of Pu-qi in Hu-bei
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Hu Ruo-shan Joseph, CM	TB of Theodosiopolis/ VA of Tai-zhou in Zhe-jiang	b. in 1881; d. in 1962
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Sun De-zhen Melchior, CM	TB of Esbo/ PA of Li-shien in xxxx
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Zhao Huai-yi Philip	TB of Vaga/ VA of Xuan-hua in He-bei
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Zhu Kai-min Simon, SJ	TB of Lesvi/ VA of Hai-men in Jiang-xi	b. in 1868; d. in 1960
	2 July 1928	Xuan-hua in He-bei	Celso Costantini TA of Theodosia		Cheng xxx-xxx Peter	TB of Sozusa in Palestina/ VA of Xuan-hua in He-bei
	14 April 1929	Rome, Italy	William Cardinal van Rossum TA of xxxx		Chang xxx-xxx Evaristus	TB of Cotenna/ VA of Tsi-ning in xxxx
	24 February 1930	Chong-qing in Si-chuan	Celso Costantini TA of Theodosia		Wang Tse-pu Francis Xavier	TB of Sinda/ VA of Wan-Xian in xxxx
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Wang Wen-cheng Paul	TB of Olena/ VA of Shun-king in xxxx	b. in 1881; d. in 19
	12 October 1930	Bei-jing in He-bei	Celso Costantini TA of Theodosia		Liou Chin-wen Francis	TB of Lampsacus/ VA of Fen-yang in Shan-si
	26 July 1931	Guang-zhou (Canton) in Guang-dong	Zhu Kai-min Simon, SJ TB of Lesvi		Yeung xxx-xxx Boniface	TB of Eguga/ Auxilary to VA of Guang-zhou (Canton) in Guang-dong
	2 August 1931	Bao-ding in he-bei	Paul Montaigne TB of Sidyma		Zhou Ji-shi Joseph, CM	TB of Cratia/ VA of Bao-ding in He-bei	b. in 1892; d. in 19
	24 April 1932	Pian-zun in xxxx	Schraven TB of Amiclea		Chang Pi-te John	TB of Antipyrgos/ VA of Chao-hsien in xxxx	b. in 1893; d. in 19
	11 June 1933	Rome, Italy	Pope Pius XI		Fan Hen-ngan Joseph	TB of Paphos VA of Tsi-ning in xxxx	b. in 1887; d. in 19
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Li Jun-ho Matthew	TB of Tlos VA of Ya-chow in xxxx
	ditto	ditto	ditto		Tsui Shou-hsun Joseph	TB of Tanais VA of Yung-nien in xxxx	b. in 1877; d. in 19
	21 September 1936	Bei-jing in He-bei	Mario Zanin TA of Trajanopolis		Yu Bin Paul	TB of Sozusa in Palestina/ VA of Nan-jing in Jiang-su	b. in 1901; d. in 19
	28 October 1936	Bei-jing in He-bei	Celso Costantini TA of Theodosia		Chang Yuin-po Joseph	TB of Tadamata VA of Xuan-hua in xxxx
	15 November 1936	Hang-kow in xxxx	Mario Zanin TA of Trajanopolis		Yu Teh-guen Fabian	TB of Phacusa VA of Ya-chow in xxxx
	24 February 1938	Bei-jing in He-bei	Sun De-zhen Melchior, CM TB of Esbo		Wang Tseng-yi John Baptist	TB of Lamia VA of An-guo in xxxx	b. in 1884; d. in 19
	27 March 1938	Sien-hsien in xxxx	Tsui Shou-hsun Joseph VA of Bao-ding in He-bei		Zhao Zhen-sheng Francis Xavier, SJ	TB of Bisica VA of Sien-hsien in xxxx	b. in 1894; d. in 19
	21 May 1939	Tien-tsin in xxxx	Jean de Vienne TB of Abrittum		Ch'en Ki-meng Job	TB of Perta VA of Chebg-ting in xxxx
	29 October 1939	Rome, Italy	Pope Pius XII		Tian Geng-xin Thomas, SVD	TB of Ruspae VA of Yang-ku in xxxx	b. in 1890; d. in 1967
	8 December 1941	Tai-kia Sung in xxxx	Theodore Shu TB of Trapezopolis		Chang Tso-huan Vitus, SVD	TB of Eguga VA of Sin-yang in xxxx	b. in 1903
	20 September 1942	Sian in xxxx	Yu Bin Paul TB of Sozusa in Palestina		Wang Tao-nan Philip Sylvester	TB of Athribis VA of Feng-siang in xxxx
	4 April 1943	Po-lu-choang in xxxx	Tian Geng-xin Thomas, SVD TB of Ruspae		Niu Hui ChingThomas	TB of Sertei VA of Yang-ku in xxxx	b. in 1895; d. in
	4 March 1945	Bei-jing in He-bei	Mario Zanin TA of Trajanopolis		Yuen Ching-ping Joseph	TB of Calydonia VA of Chu-ma-tien in xxxx	b. in 1898; d. in

By 1946, there were in China fully 99 vicariates apostolic and 40 apostolic prefectures. By then all of the important sees were headed by ethnic Chinese bishops.

That same year Pope Pius XII completed the work of his predecessor by establishing a regular territorial hierarchy for China. He changed almost all of the vicariates apostolic into full-fledged dioceses.

China was organized into 20 metropolitan provinces, each headed by an archbishop. Three (the most important) of those first twenty archbishops were ethnic Chinese; the other seventeen foreign missionaries.

The three Chinese archbishops heading the three most important sees were:

• T'ien Keng-hsin (Tian Geng-xin) Thomas, S.V.D., the Cardinal Archbishop of Pei-ching [Bei-jing] in Ho-pei [He-bei] Province,
• Yü P'in (Yu Bin) Paul, the Archbishop of Nan-ching [Nan-jing] in Kiang-su [Jiang-su] Province, and
• Chou Chi-shih (Zhou Ji-shi) Joseph, C.M., the Archbishop of Nan-ch'ang [Nan-chang] in Kiang-si [Jiang-xi] Province.

By late 1949, when the Communists won their civil war against the Nationalists, there were 139 archbishops and bishops on the mainland of China, of whom 26 were ethnic Chinese and 113 were foreigners (i.e., 15 American missionaries and 98 of various European nationalities).