Chinese Holy Bibles are no longer
available for sale online, as demanded by the Chinese government. Not a single Bible can be found amongst
Chinese online stores … including Amazon.
Customers who had added a Bible to their shopping cart the day before
are no longer able to complete their purchase. Only various “Bible stories” are still available
for purchase.
The distribution of the Bible has
always been restricted in China. Unlike
the Quran and Buddhist Sutras, which are permitted to be freely sold both online
and in brick-and-mortar bookstores, the Chinese Holy Bible is restricted to
distribution solely by government-held churches. The Bible cannot be obtained through public
channels, such as bookstores.
Moreover, only one printing company — the
Jiangsu Amity Printing Company — is authorized to print the Bible, and the
total number of Bibles printed each year is also severely restricted.
Since 1987, the Episcopal Church of
America has donated the royalties, paper, and printing machines necessary for making
the Bible affordable for Chinese citizens. The standard Bible is less than $1 and is
lightweight with excellent quality paper, printing, and binding.
As online shopping has become more and
more accessible to distant cities over the past 5-years, some Christians
started purchasing Bibles from government-held churches and selling them
through online platforms. These online
sales have made the Bible more accessible for those in rural areas without access
to government-held churches, as well as curious non-Christians who do not know
where to purchase one. The government
has never restricted the online sale of the Bibles until now.
Currently, one can still access
electronic Bibles through certain apps. WeDevoteBible, a popular Bible app equivalent
to YouVersion, provides the same design and format as the printed Bible, and supplements
it with commentaries. This app provides even
greater access to the Bible for Chinese citizens. Many Chinese Christians are concerned that WeDevoteBible
will also soon be shut down.
The proclamation which banned the
online sale of Bibles gave no indication of the reason behind this restrictive
measure against the distribution of the Bible. Some Chinese web users speculate that it is part
of the movement intending to incorporate Chinese characteristics into
Christianity. The tightened restriction
of the Bible distribution, some suspect, is to provide room for the government
to “fix” the current translation of the Bible, the Chinese Union Version
translated in 1919, in order to incorporate traditional Chinese cultural and
socialist core values into the Bible.
More than likely, this change is
related to the implementation of the newly revised Regulation on Religious
Affairs and Cyber Security Law. These regulations
led to a nationwide crackdown on Chinese Christians and stronger control over
Christian activities on the Internet.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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