Bibles abound in China

3.1 million were printed last year alone, a sign of Chinese Christians' growing freedom

NANJING, China -- On its official Web site the Beijing Olympics organizing committee advises visitors to the games that each person may "take no more than one Bible into China."

But in a country where the ruling Communist Party still prohibits its members from joining religious groups, a factory in this city in eastern China produced 6.7 million Bibles last year, more than 3 million of them for distribution in China.

The Nanjing Amity Printing Co. looks a lot like the Ford, Motorola and Siemens factories nearby. A stone-and-glass office building stands in front of long white warehouses with tall windows. Its presses are capable of producing 42 Bibles every minute.

One week last month, workers at the plant packaged some of the 50,000 copies of the New Testament to be distributed free at venues during the Olympics.

The distinction between Bibles brought in by foreigners and those printed in China is a matter of perception in a country where proselytizing is banned.

China's leaders have a reputation for repressing faith -- a history highlighted by a crackdown on Tibetan Buddhist monasteries after violent protests in Lhasa in March.

"Sometimes Western Christians don't understand the freedom that's within China, so I could imagine people arriving in Beijing with two huge suitcases full of Bibles thinking it's a good thing," said Peter Dean, a United Bible Societies consultant at the Nanjing factory.

"But what you want in China is legally printed Bibles."

Reflection of confidence

The Bible factory is co-owned by the Amity Foundation, a Chinese Christian charity, and United Bible Societies, an England-based organization working to make Scriptures available worldwide.

Because of China's troubled history with religion, some foreigners are surprised the factory exists at all, said Kua Wee Seng, who oversees the operation.

"Many people don't believe that we've been printing Bibles legally in China for the last 20 years," Kua said. "What they hear is prosecution and arrests of pastors."

He said the factory "reflects the greater openness and, if I may say, the greater confidence of the [Communist] Party and the government."

Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist services will be available to athletes in the Olympic Village.

Restrictions remain

Many of China's estimated 60 million Christians continue to face restrictions.

By law, Christians are only allowed to worship privately and in state-sanctioned churches.

But possibly two thirds of Chinese Christians belong to home churches outside of the state system, said Daniel Bays, a professor of Christian history at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Local officials sometimes disrupt or monitor unsanctioned churches for fear that they might lead to organized protest. The government generally tightens its control around important events. Several Christians in Beijing said police had stepped up monitoring before the Olympics.

Xu Yonghai, a 48-year-old Christian in Beijing who was jailed between 2003 and 2006 for publicly criticizing the destruction of an unlicensed church in southern China, said police began monitoring him last month. Police arrived at one home church meeting last month and forced all of its members to register, he said.

For the government, "social stability is paramount," Kua said. "They do not want any particular religion to create a spark that will set a fire."

Beijing also regulates the production of Bibles by barring most printing companies from publishing religious materials and by requiring China's state-sanctioned Protestant churches to apply for permission to increase production.