was part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Shantung, managed by Italian Franciscans, who were tasked with rebuilding the earlier Catholic mission work. However, the mission work proceeded slowly, due to insufficient personnel and resources. The southern half of the province, in particular, had been all but neglected. Consequently, it was transferred to the SVD on December 2, 1885, and became the Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Shan-tung. The new Vicariate Apostolic was headquartered in Yanzhou, Shandong and headed by Bishop Johann Baptist von Anzer, SVD, who led it until November 24, 1903. By 1907, the mission numbered 35,378 Catholics and 36,367 catechumens, and by 1924, 106,000 Catholics and 44,000 catechumens. The SVD's presence in Qingdao was first recorded when the mission purchased land there in 1899 and began building a mission hall. Design and construction In autumn 1898 Bishop von Anzer had Father Franz Bartels appointed as pastor in Qingdao. Bishop von Anzer also commissioned Bartels with planning and constructing the Catholic mission. Bartels initially stayed in a house that was part of a Taoist temple. Adjacent to his house he had a provisional chapel built which served as a place of worship/service for the European inhabitants of Qingdao until 1902 when a mission hall with a chapel was built. Major Kopka von Lossow, commander of the Third Sea Battalion which was stationed in Qingdao, ordered about a hundred of his men to attend services every Sunday. On a hill chosen by Bishop von Anzer, Father Bartels purchased some land on Qufu Road, having a printing house and the SVD mission hall erected in 1902. The mission hall was converted to a school in 1922, and was operating as of May 2010. The Holy Ghost Convent was also built on the same hill, occupied by Franciscan sisters who worked as nurses and teachers. The cathedral's original architect (commissioned by Bishop Augustin Henninghaus) designed a three-aisled Gothic church, but the World War I conquest of Qingdao by the Japanese on November 16, 1914, put an end to the cathedral plans. The city reverted to Chinese rule in December 1922, under control of the Republic of China. The Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Shan-tung was renamed the Vicariate Apostolic of Yanzhoufu on December 13, 1924, and on February 22, 1925, the Apostolic Prefecture of Qingdao was established from its territory, with Bishop Georg Weig, SVD, appointed prefect on March 18 of that same year.