« Westmont College Tussles With Pro-Life Student Over 'Horrific' Photos (Updated) | Main | Jesus' Name Exposes Christians to Identity Theft »
November 13, 2012
World's Biggest Bible Publisher? China
Amity Printing Company passes 100-million mark.
Update (May 23, 2013): According to the Economist, China's only government-approved Bible publisher, Amity Printing Company, is one of the largest Bible publishers in the world—but it exports about two-thirds of the Bibles it prints. As a result, unofficial house churches still don't have access to Scriptures, says ChinaAid founder Bob Fu.
World magazine also argues that Bible exports harm Chinese churches.
-----
Only one company is authorized to print Bibles in China—and it appears to be taking full advantage of the opportunity.
Last week, Amity Printing Company chairman Qiu Zhonghui announced that the publisher had printed its 100 millionth copy of the Bible in July.
The milestone means China is now the biggest publisher of Bibles worldwide.
Chinese government spokesperson Guo Wei said, "The Chinese government respects and protects religious freedom and will continue to support printing and publishing Bibles in China."
Amity Printing began as a joint venture between the United Bible Societies (UBS) and the Amity Foundation in 1988. The company currently is based in Nanjing, China, about three hours from Shanghai.
CT recently profiled Baojiayin, an online-only retailer selling over 1,300 Christian books in China. CT has also examined whether or not Christians should continue smuggling Bibles into China.
Comments
Anyone know whether the Bibles published in China are complete and unabridged / uncensored?
Posted By: Bruce Kirk | November 13, 2012 11:08 PM
The first year my church purchased leather bound Quest Study Bibles (published by Zondervan) for our HS graduates, I was--at first--disappointed to find out they were printed in China. My disappointment turned to praise when I realized they were now printing a book that was once banned. Yes, they were in English, but more and more Chinese are leaning English as a 2nd language. This is one of the few "products" I am glad to find out are made in China.
Posted By: Mike Tatman | November 14, 2012 10:11 PM
There is nothing wrong with the Bibles printed by China, they are complete and faithful translations. Four Chinese translations are now approved for translation, reflecting several translation styles, as well as some minority language translations, are now published and distributed through Three Self Patriotic Movement Protestant church bookstores, China Catholic Council bookstores and the TSPM/CCC online bookstore. Other bookstores are allowed to sell Christian books, and portions of the Bible sometimes, but not complete printed Bibles, to my knowledge, though there are many ways to obtain the content in electronic/audio format online.
That said, it should be observed that the majority of the 100,000,000 copies printed to date in China are for export, not for domestic consumption, so the statistic should not be understood to mean that there is actually this quantity of legally printed paper Bibles in circulation in China.
There are also some good quality Chinese translations that are not approved for publication through Amity, because they were not done by a United Bible Societies affiliate and the government churches.
Posted By: east of eden | November 15, 2012 4:48 AM
Unfortunately, China isn't one of the world's followers of Jesus and His teachings.
Posted By: Richard Mackin,Jr. | November 15, 2012 11:57 AM
Post a comment: