The Chinese government removed Bibles from online stores after announcing it is working on re-interpreting and translating the Bible so it conform to “Chinese-style Christianity.”
The Chinese government announced the impending “Chinese-style” reinterpretation of the Christian scriptures via an official document, “Principle for Promoting the Chinese Christianity in China for the Next Five Years (2018-2022),” released in Nanjing on March 28, according to ABC. Soon thereafter, online shoppers in China noticed Bibles were no longer available for online purchase in the country — neither digital nor print.
Seen on #weibo: a notice saying that as of March 30th, #Bibles will not be allowed to be sold on Taobao, Dangdang, the Chinese version of Amazon…etc. pic.twitter.com/diwizUtdwC
— William Nee (@williamnee) April 3, 2018
Bibles disappeared from the largest Chinese online marketplaces, including Taobao, Jingdong, DangDang and Chinese Amazon. Certain books on Christianity were also blocked from purchase on Taobao.
The purge of Bibles from online markets coincided with the Chinese government’s Tuesday release of a white paper, “China’s Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief.” The paper lists the ways religious liberties are allegedly protected in China. The government released the paper as part of an effort to prove China’s effort to establish good relations with the Vatican.
Religions in China “should adhere to the direction of localizing the religion, practice the core values of socialism, develop and expand the fine Chinese tradition and actively explore the religious thought which accords with China’s national circumstances,” the paper states.
Some Chinese web users say that’s because China doesn’t obtain property rights for selling, re-selling, and re-printing #Bibles. Meanwhile, the Koran, Buddhist scriptures and Taoist sutras are still on sell in the markets. https://t.co/wU1Uf9G9o5
— Henry Yin (@HenryYinCNA) April 3, 2018
Some speculate part of the reason for the ban of online Bible sales is China has not officially approved the Bible for circulation or given it an issuance number. Technically, the Bible is an illegal publication in China.
William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, called for the country to reverse its online Bible sale ban and said the move is likely a response to governmental fears of the spread of Christianity — a belief system that professes a higher power than the state and therefore clashes with “Chinese culture.”
“Most likely this ban on the Bible is an attempt to limit the spread of what the Government fears is an alternative belief system,” Nee told ABC.
The ban on online sales of the Bible and the effort to reinterpret it falls in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “sinicization of religion” policy — “to conform to Chinese culture.” In this case, it means to make of religion conform to the ruling Communist party’s policies and submit to Beijing.
Religions that are “Chinese in orientation” may operate in China and the government “must provide active guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to socialist society,” Xi declared, according to ABC.
The government’s efforts to reign in Christianity may actually be backfiring, according to Nee, despite making life extraordinarily difficult for believers in certain areas of the country.
“Despite all the pressure put on Christians, and indeed, perhaps because of it, China is seeing a surge of religious belief,” Nee said. “The situation for freedom of religion varies greatly form location to location, with some people going to church and holding Bible studies and other activities with little interference, while in other areas the Government is much more hard line.”
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