http://www.christiantoday.com/article/nanjing.china.becomes.bible.printing.capital.of.the.world/18520.htm
by Helen Southam (CT, 3 May 2008)
Thirty years ago the Bible was banned there, but now China has one of the biggest Bible factories in the world.
A new, expanded printing facility is soon to make China’s ancient capital, Nanjing, the Bible centre of the world.
The Amity Printing Company – a joint venture with the Bible Societies – will be producing 23 Bibles every minute to keep up with growing demand for the Bible in China.
The new press will greatly increase the number of Bibles Amity can produce each year. In 2007 it printed six million Bibles. When the new press opens on 19 May that will leap to a potential 12 million – most of which will be distributed throughout China.
It’s a major step in the history of the printing centre. The People’s Liberation Army printed some of the first Bibles in China after the Cultural Revolution, including three million that were printed on presses of the Red Army. Amity Press – now one of the world’s largest Bible printers – began production in 1987. Last December its 50 millionth Bible was produced.
About 55,000 churches distribute the Bibles that come off Amity’s production lines. The new press was needed to help keep up with demand in a country where, until 30 years ago, Christianity was banned and Bibles were confiscated.
