The Bible in China

This good book which was banned during the Mao's era and the Cultural Revolution period, is the most popular book being sought after in China today . Yes, The Bible.

Amity Printing Company (APC) in Nanjing, the only state-approved Christian publisher in China, has upgraded its facilities since May 2008 with the capacity to print 12 million copies/year (in Mandarin and 8 other minor languages) or 2900 Bibles per hour! Started printing since 1987 with about 600,000 copies per year, APC celebrated its 50th millionneth copy end of 2007. APC is now one of the largest Bible printing presses in the world.

The Chinese Government official estimate of the Christian population in China is in the region of 50 million; an unofficial church survey says 80 millions and according to one Communist Party internal document, the number can be as big as 140 million currently. The number is growing fast each day as the Government circle has unofficially relaxed this aspect of freedom to worship.

If The Bible is a book for all people, it is reasonable to find China at least mentioned in it. Indeed, it was mentioned in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah (written around 700 BC), on the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel: "Surely these shall come from afar; Look, those from the north and the west; And these from the land of Sinim" (Isaiah 49:12).

For a better explanation, I attach an extract from a book "God and the Ancient Chinese" by Samuel Wang & Ethel R Nelson:

One of the most powerful, yet often neglected, Bible prophecies that might bring conviction to the Chinese, as well as the world, is the prophecy of China written by Isaiah (720 - 680 B.C.).

The Land of Sinim

The ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, include the book of Isaiah, and once again confirm that today’s Bible is accurate and reliable. This verse in Isaiah is thought to refer to China:

Surely these shall come from afar; Look, those from the north and the west; And these from the land of Sinim. (Isaiah 49: 12).

You may wonder what the word “Sinim” means. Where is this land of Sinim, mentioned by Isaiah before his service was terminated in 680 B.C.? According to Strong’s Concordance, “Sinim is a distant Oriental region." Young’s Concordance reports, “Sinim is a people in the far east; the Chinese?”
However, the meaning is still not quite clear. Let us now check an English dictionary for help: “‘Sino’ indicates Chinese; for example, Sinophile. [French, from Late Latin ‘Sinae;’ the Chinese, from Greek ‘Sinai;’ from Arabic ‘Sin;’ China, from Chinese (Mandarin) ‘Ch’in’ [Qin], dynastic name of the country.]”

Now it is clear that the Hebrew word “Sinim” means China, as can be seen, for example, in the word “sinology”—a study of things Chinese. As we mentioned earlier, all Chinese roots meet in the Qin dynasty. However, the Hebrew alphabet does not have the equivalent of “ch” in English and “Q” in Chinese. Thus “Qin” has been phonetically translated as “Sinim.”