007-005 Chinese Bible

007-005
Chinese Bible 

Chinese may sound like a local language to many. People think that Chinese is a language only spoken by the people living in China. Not exactly. No, I am not saying that Chinese is an international language like English. But there are many Chinese living overseas and most of them speak Chinese. With the huge population of China and billions of Chinese living aboard, Chinese is arguable the most spoken language in the world. 

Box Hill, a township of Melbourne, Australia
Many Chinese live there and one can survive
by just speaking Chinese in this community

In the next few posts, I will talk about Chinese translations of different religious texts. I will talk about the sacred texts of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism and many other minor religions. How many different Chinese translations of these texts exist? How well are they being translated? Are the number of translations enough for the devoted, or is there still a long way to go?

As a Christian myself, I would like to start from the Bible.

A (very) brief history of Chinese Bible translation

English information on Chinese Bible translations is scarce. Wikipedia does give out a list of Chinese Bible translations. But the list is very incomplete. So, I decide to put the record straight here. If you do not speak Chinese, the information below can give you an overview on how the Bible has been adopted into the Chinese culture. If you read Chinese, then hopefully this post can serve as your Bible resource.

In order not to make the post too long, I will first talk about the history of Chinese Bible translation.

Record shows that the first Bible translation into Chinese language can be dated back to the early 7^th century. However, almost all of those early translations were lost in history. Besides, there is no evidence that those early translations covered the whole Bible. Most likely, only a small portion of the Bible were translated at that time.

Different attempts have been made in the following centuries. But only until the late 18^th century, we see a dramatic increase in Bible translations. That was mainly because of the arrival of Western evangelists and the advance in printing technology. 

Early printing technology

Wikipedia shows a list of at least 20 different translations of the Bible by the end of the 19^th century. And the first Chinese translation of the whole Bible was completed in 1822. Previous translations only covered a portion of the Bible, most often the New Testament. The translation work was leaded by Joshua Marshman and the version is credited to him, called Marshman’s translation. 1 year later, New Testament of Robert Morrison, translated by Robert Morrison and his team, was published. These 2 translations of Bible became the prominent versions of Bible being used in the 19^th century by Chinese churches. 

First page of the New Testament of Robert Morrison

However, both versions were in classical Chinese. Classical Chinese was the official language of China before the 20^th century and was favorited by the elites. Most of the well-known Chinese literatures were written in this form of Chinese language. However, general public may find difficult to understand. As the number of converts increased, the demand for a Bible translation in vernacular Chinese also increased.

Guxin shengjing (古新聖經), the first Bible in vernacular Chinese

 

Guxin shengjing

The first attempt of translating the Bible into vernacular Chinese appeared in 1803. Translation was carried out by Louis Antoine de Poirot, a Catholic Jesuit painter and translator of the 18^th and early 19^th century. His work was later referred as Louis Antoine de Poirot's Version or Guxin shengjing /古新聖經. However, his translation was not published because the permission from the Holy See was never granted. Besides, he has only completed the translation of the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament. Translation of Song of Songs, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel & The Twelve Minor Prophets, was never completed.

Since his work was not published, its influence on early churches is minor. However, Poirot’s work is still considered as one of the most significant milestone in Bible translation.

A copy of Louis Antoine de Poirot's Version was recovered and published in 2014, ISBN 9787101100686. It is available to purchase from Zhonghua Book Company.

Alternatively, an original handwritten copy of Poirot’s New Testament can be found in this link. 

Link:        https://daozaishenzhou.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/wenli-guanhua/
(Direct download)

How well is the translation? 

A few pages of the Bible, Genesis chapter 1 and Leviticus chapter 1, are shared on the internet. I found that the terms Poirot used are different from the terms in today’s Catholic Bible. However, his translation is totally understandable, despite his work is already 2 centuries old. 

Genesis chapter 1 of Guxin shengjing

Leviticus chapter 1 of Guxin shengjing

In the next post, I will talk about different vernacular Chinese translations of the Protestant Bible. Then, I will move on to the Catholic Bible, the Orthodox Bible, and further.

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