Yanzhou has a population of 600,000 people.
Mandarin, Shandong dialect and Yanzhou dialect are in use in the diocesan territory.
Yanzhou was formerly the mission "Sui Iuris" of Southern Shantung in 1882. Three years later, it was elevated to Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Shandong and was entrusted to German SVD missioners. At the time, the missionary areas covered the southern part of Shandong including Yanzhoufu, Caozhoufu and Jining (over 70,000 square kilometers) and the local population was close to 10 million.
Bishop John Baptist von Anzer, S.D.B. was the first diocesan bishop and the cathedral was first built at Bolizhuang in Yanggu county. Ten years later in 1899, the cathedral was removed from Yanggu to Yanzhoufu city and the new cathedral's area was 83,646.2 square meters. It was one of the largest churches in mainland China.
Cardinal Thomas Tien Ken-hsin, the first Asian cardinal, was a native of Yanzhou diocese.
Currently, Yanzhou Diocese administers districts of Zaozhuang and Jining, a total of 18 cities and counties.
Yanzhou is one of the transportation hubs of Shandong Province. Two important railway lines: Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Xinxiang (Henan) - Shijiusuo (Shandong) Railway traverses the city and connects cities around. Everyday there are about 100 passenger trains stopping over in Yanzhou and it is also an important place of freight transportation in southwest part of Shandong.
Yanzhou has a warm temperate monsoon climate and it has abundant sunshine. Summer is hot and it rains a lot, while most days in winter are clear and chilly. The average temperature is 12.8 °C, while the hottest temperature is 35.4 °C and the coldest is -10.1 °C. Average rainfall is 1,258.8mm.
Situating in an area rich in coal, Yanzhou is a national, important coal production base.
Yanzhou City is located at the southwest plain of Shandong. Yanzhou is one of the three county-level cities of Jining City and is 34.3 kilometer southeast from Jining.
There is no university in Yanzhou area but the Shandong Province Qufu Teachers' Training School (Yanzhou Branch).
Yanzhou is an ancient and agricultural society. Neighboring cities and counties are the birthplaces of five Chinese Confucian saints including Confucius, Mencius, Yancius, Zengcius and Zisiciu. Yanzhou thus was deeply and strongly nurtured by Confucianism and Chinese civilization. According to some local historical records, people always place importance on peoples' excellent conduct and high morality.
