SHANGHAI — The China Christian Council — the country’s official Protestant organization of churches — is hosting a Bible exhibition in four cities across the United States this fall, beginning Sept. 28 at the Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. The exhibit will focus on four aspects of the Bible, said Bao Jiayuan, associate general secretary of the CCC:
• Bible printing and distribution in Chinese history. While much of this was done in the 1800s, records in China indicate Bible translation occurred there as early as the 7th century, said Bao.
• Bible printing from 1980 to today. During this period Bao reported that 80 million Bibles have been printed in China, more than 53 million of them in Chinese. Bibles in Mongolian will soon be available.
Although the Amity Foundation, which prints the Bibles, puts out 2.5 million to 3 million of them every year in China, a shortage still exits in some areas of the country.
• How the Bible influences life in China today.
• The Bible and Christian art. The exhibit will explore how the Chinese use the Bible in different art forms to tell the gospel story.