The availability of the Bible in China has long been a contentious topic.
Whether it’s China “rewriting the Bible,” scripture apps disappearing from the Internet, or crackdowns on unofficial publishing, what we hear about the Good News in China is often anything but good news.
A new book by Cynthia Oh suggests a different narrative. In The Bible in China: From Banned Book to Bestseller, Oh, who has long served as Communications Manager for the United Bible Societies China Partnership, offers an insider’s view into Bible publishing in China.
Due for release on August 27, the book is currently available at a pre-order discount. ChinaSource readers can use the discount code PREBANNED25 when checking out on the William Carey Publishing website.
ChinaSource will publish a full review of Oh’s book once it’s out. In the meantime, here are some initial thoughts on her valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion of the Bible in China.
The Story Behind the Story
Writing in the foreward, Kua Wee Seng, who was involved in overseeing the UBS partnership for nearly three decades, describes his own skepticism when he first heard of the Amity Foundation’s plans to publish the Bible in Nanjing in 1988. He notes that, while much has been written about China’s explosive church growth, comparatively little attention has been paid to the story of how God’s Word has been made available through China’s official churches and far beyond—what Kua calls “one of the unintended best kept secrets of the missions in China.”
Unpacking the questions that prompted her own research, Cynthia Oh writes,
The unfathomable had happened in a place where conditions were once harsh and unfavourable. How did the Word of God spread so rapidly in China, a country whose government is atheistic? And what is the story behind how Bible Societies got involved in the translation, printing, publication, distribution, engagement and advocacy of the Bible in China after churches reopened in the 1980s?
Oh answers these questions and more as she takes readers through a fascinating survey of the Chinese Bible’s early history, its disappearance in China during the Cultural Revolution, the negotiations that led to the establishment of the Amity Press, and the myriad ways in which Scripture has become available within China. Along with the publishing itself, the UBS partnership has also been deeply involved in minority language translations, literacy programs, Scriptures for those who are visually or hearing-impaired, and various special editions for youth, families, athletes, people affected by AIDS, and other segments of the population.
Banned or Bestseller?
The author acknowledges that, by focusing solely on legal Bible publishing within China’s official church, she is telling but one part of a larger story. Her subtitle, From Banned Book to Bestseller, hints at the paradox underlying much of the often-heated debate surrounding the Bible in China. Some would argue that the Bible is still banned—from bookstores, from the internet, from the classroom, and from most of public life in China. Yet it is undeniably also a perennial bestseller. And, in one of China’s many ironies, the world’s largest Communist country has become the largest global supplier of Bibles.
In reality, of course, the Bible is both a bestseller and, in many ways, still banned. This seeming paradox speaks to the “both-and” nature of China, whose realities do not fit into neatly constructed Western boxes. Cynthia Oh’s eye-opening book is a reminder that nothing is impossible in China, and that, in our attempt to draw definitive conclusions about what is happening or not happening, we often miss what God is doing.
