Chinese Bible printer, Amity Printing Company (APC), celebrated on November 11 in Nanjing, Jiangsu province the completion of printing 200 million Bibles .
Founded in 1988, APC have printed 200 million copies of the Bible in more than 130 languages. It has already extended its operations and established two branches overseas—Kenya in 2015 and Ethiopia, which was inaugurated during the celebration. Over 200 leaders from registered churches and government officials celebrated with the printing company, reports China Christian Daily.
Speaking at the event, United Bible Society Director General, Mr. Michael Perreau, said he was amazed at Amity Printing’s achievements through the years. He honored the company’s previous leaders who pioneered efforts to benefit Christians and who persevered to expand APC’s operations.
APC had an exhibit of about 300 Bibles, including ancient Bibles since the late Ming Dynasty. To commemorate the historic event, APC’s general manager, Liu Lei, gave a gift of the 200 millionth Bible to the Bible Society of South Africa.
Amity Printing was established to provide Bibles to Christians in China. It was founded four years after an exposé that informed the world about the lack of Bible and the persecution of Christians in the communist country, according to BillionBibles.com.
APC is the world’s lowest cost Bible printer capable of printing 18 million Bibles every year. It only distributes Bibles to state-run churches, Three Self Churches, at an affordable cost of about $1.60. However, the Chinese Bibles produced by APC have inaccurate translations and experts feared there would be more inaccuracies because of Sinicization.
In 2018, the China Christian Council and Three Self Patriotic Movement announced the Sinicization of Christianity in China. Part of the plan was to interpret the Bible to support socialism and conform to the ideologies of the communist party. A monthly magazine already started this campaign by depicting Bible characters as ancient Chinese people, including Jesus who was illustrated wearing a traditional Han attire.
