The world’s largest Bible printing press in Nanjing, China, is celebrating producing their 100 millionth copy of the Bible on November 8. Thirty-five years ago printing a Bible was illegal in China. Today they are being printed at an accelerating rate. The first 50 million Bibles took 20 years to print. The second 50 million only took five years and the 200 million milestone could be realised within ten years.

Amity Press occupies a large two-year-old factory about the size of two AFL ovals in Nanjing, one of China’s booming cities. Six hundred staff print, bind, and ship Bibles and Hymnals.

“We participate in Bible printing as a witness to the truth of John 14:6,” Rev An Xinyi, the chairman of the Jiangsu Provincial Three-Self Patriotic Movement* (TSPM) told a thanksgiving service at the printing plant. TSPM is the co-ordinating body of the officially-recognised protestant church in China.

“The Truth can stand a long test.”

“In the early church we saw that rightly handling the word of God led to revival” An said. “In Acts we see that the churches that depended on the word of God grew. Today’s challenge is all about handling the word of God.”

Some of the first Bibles printed in China after the Cultural revolution were printed on the People’s Liberation Army’s press in Nanjing, with paper supplied by the United Bible societies.

Qiu Zhong Hui, General Secretary of the Amity Foundation, told the story of how that happened. “I remember 30 years ago a brave man, Deng Xiao Ping opened China to the world. President Carter asked ‘Can the Chinese people have their own Bible?’ Deng Xiao Ping answered ‘Yes’. Such a simple answer opened the way to change Chinese history”.

“I would like to thank our Party and our Government for the policy of opening up to the world.”

After that first print-run, it was clear that to get better quality the Christians needed their own press. Bible societies around the world raised $US7.6m to help set up the Amity Printing Company. So in  1987, just ten years after the Cultural Revolution, a Bible press had been established in China.

In Shanghai, a couple of days before the 100 million thanksgiving, there was a celebration for the sixty millionth Bible published by the China Christian Council, the umbrella organisation for protestants. These Bibles are Amity-produced Bibles used by Chinese protestants.

Elder Fu Xianwei, the leader of the TSPM led the celebrations.

What do you give a church leader celebrating publishing so many Bibles? Kua Wee Seng of the United Bible Societies China Bible Partnership, thought the answer was to give Elder Fu a special Bible–the same edition of the New Testament that was presented to the Dowager Empress on her 60th birthday in the late nineteenth century.

Old Bibles are rare in China, because they virtually disappeared during the cultural revolution, when the Bible was banned.

The sixty million bibles have been widely distributed throughout China. They are sold cheaply, and are still priced at the level of a labourer’s daily wage.

They have gone to all Christians in China, both those from the registered and unregistered churches. The print run is more than double the stated membership of the registered churches of of 23 million. In addition, about a million Bibles have been provided to the Catholic Church in China.

The other part of the 100 million Amity Bibles are exported, including many Bibles sold in Australia. This export trade boosts the Amity Press finances and helps use up the extra capacity of the printing plant.

The local distribution centres provide Bibles to churches throughout the country.

The Nanjing Bible distribution centre is in the basement of a building  owned by the Jiangsu Christian Council and rented to a hotel chain to help support their operations. But the basement is full of Bibles. About 300,000 Bibles a year flow through this room about the size of an Australian apartment. There are 73 other  Bible distribution centres across China.

While in the wealthy parts of China many people can afford Bibles, rural areas still need help. In addition the number of Christians in China is increasing. Bible Societies, including ours in Australia raise money to provide the paper to keep printing the Bible in China. The paper used so far could wrap around the equator 55 times. That is a lot of paper.

To support the Amity press please go to biblesociety.org.au/china

* The ‘Three Self’ title is based on the missionary principles, “self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation” first put forward by Henry Venn of the Church Missionary Society in the nineteenth century.

Image: An Xinyi at the Jiangsu Bible Distribution Centre sends off a van load of Bibles.