In a counter-intuitive and ironic twist, China has become one of the world's top producer of Bibles, producing 3.5 million annually. At the recent Christian Congress held in Beijing, the China Christian Council, the governing body of China's Protestant Church released a report on the work of Bible production in China. The following article, originally published in the Christian Times, reports on the Congress.
The Ninth Chinese Christian Congress opened in Beijing on September 9 and lasted 3 days. The conference is organized by the Chinese Christian Churchs Council and takes place every five years.
The day the Congress opened, the Chinese Three Self Patriotic Movement Committee Chairperson, elder Fu Xianwei, gave a work report and reviewed the work of the last five years. Included in his report on the last 5 years, he stated that the Chinese Christian Church Councils publishers printed 17.5 million Bibles, and in the past 30-plus years, the Chinese Christian Church Councils publishers have printed over 62.17 million Bibles.
Over the past 5 years, publishers have produced a total of 150,000 minority language Bibles in 7 minority languages. They have successively published a Lisu Bible, an Eastern Lisu Bible, a Miao Bible, and a Korean minority Bible. Also published were a Korean minority Bible with a hymnal included, a Jingpo Bible, a Lahu Bible, and 19,000 Braille Bibles. These satisfied the need for Bibles of every minority and special needs group.
With regards to this, Xinhua News Agencys website published a commentary stating that China is now publishing 3.5 million Bibles annually, making China one of the worlds top publishers of Bibles.
Since the Reform and Opening Up, Chinas freedom of religion policies have been re-implemented. The Amity Council of the Chinese Christian Church Council and the United Bible Society established the Amity Printing Company, Ltd. in 1988. On November 8, 2010, Amity Printing Company held an event to celebrate the printing of 80 million Bibles, meaning that, at that time, China had already become one of the worlds largest publishers of Bibles. On November 8, 2012, Amity Printing Company published 100 million Bibles, and the director held a celebration. Also at that time, due to the Chinese Christian Churchs rapid development, there was still a great need for Bibles in Chinese churches.
Original article: 中国已成全球发行圣经最多国家之一 需印刷更多释经类圣经
Photo source: Chinese Bible, by Wesley Fryer
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