Chinese Bibles Published by Ying Wa

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1 gJthYin~-~ ~W a 1818-1998 _ - - __ Ann i versary }1 . :':\~~ ' Issue - 0 e g e

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PaulKua, ,_"Chinese Bibles Published-by Ying Wa," Ying Wa College, 1818-1998: 180th Anniversary Issue (Hong Kong: ~'ing Wa Colleg~, 199~), pp. _14-21 .

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YWC - Past & Present

CHINESE BmLES PuBLISHED BY YING WA

Ying Wa College has a heritage in publishing

from the very beginning. A number of our

forefathers, Dr. Robert Morrison, Dr. William

Milne, Mr. Leung Faat (tiil:3J), Rev. David Collie , Dr. James Legge, and Mr. Hoh FukTong C{OJ;ffl'i:lit:) were all involved in translating, writing, and

publishing Christian and/or secular materials.The

Chinese Bible has a very long history dating back

to at least the Tang dynasty. The Chinese Bibles

published byYingWa College, representing the

meeting of these two heritages, are unique and

interesting. This article outlines the history of

Chinese Bibles, and of publishing in Ying Wa. It

then discusses the background of the Ying Wa

Bibles, and compares a few familiar terms and

verses as they appear in several common editions

of the Bible.

Earliest Bibles in China

There are evidences of Christian presence

in China as early as the Han (206BC-AD220) and the Tang Dynasties (AD618-907). In 1625, a marble tablet discovered in Xian described the

history ofNestorian Christianity (::!J:~) in the Tang Dynasty. ' Inscriptions on this tablet referred to

Chinese translations of at least portions of both

the Old and the NewTestaments by the Nestorian

Christians from Syria during the reign ofTai-zong

CJ1!::k*)2 While these oldest Chinese Bibles may not have survived, the oldest surviving Christian

manuscript on paper is actually in Chinese!3 This

document, illustrated here as Figure 1, is a Tang

dynasty Nestorian Christian tract called Hymn in

It was one of many old manuscripts found in a

sealed cave in Dunhuang and taken by Paul Pelliot,

a French Sinologist,in early 1900's to France. The

document is now held in the National Library of

France (Bibliotheque Nationale de France) in Paris . It is more than a thousand years old and

contains a number of interesting terms. San Wei

c.=:~) stands for the HolyTrinity. The Affectionate Father (~X:) is God; the Luminous Son (I:ifl r) is Jesus, and the Fresh Wind (J@. ) is the Holy Spirit.

Figure 1: Nestorian Christian Manuscript

There were subsequent efforts by Catholic

missionaries in China to translate at least portions

of the Scripture into Chinese during both the Yuan

and the Ming Dynasties4 . In fact , a Chinese

manuscript of the New Testament found in the

British Museum and used by Dr. Morrison as a

foundation for his translation of the Bible was

most likely transcribed from a Catholic Chinese

Bible. 5

The earliest efforts by the Protestant

missionaries occurred during the latter part of the

Qing Dynasty. Almost simultaneously, Dr. Marshman and John Lassar (who was born in Macau and could read and write Chinese) worked in Serampore, India; and Dr. Morrison worked in

Canton, China to translate the Bible into Chinese.

At a later stage, Dr. Milne joined Dr. Morrison and helped translate part of the Old Testaments.

The Publishing Heritage of Ying Wa

Dr. Morrison arrived in Canton by way of

New York in 1807. From the earliest days , he

engaged diligently in the study of the Chinese

language and in the translation and printing of

Christian materials. His first convert in China,

TsaeA-ko (~r,1lj) , whom he baptized in July, 1814, was his printing assistant6


When the Anglo-Chinese College (which wasYingWa's old name in English) was founded by Dr. Morrison in Malacca in 1818 cam=+_:=.:: l:f) , a printing press was set up as part of it. A Brief Statement of the Objectives of the Anglo-Chinese College, perhaps the oldest printed

document about our College, pointed out the

following:

As there is attached to the College a

Chinese , Malay, and English press , literary

students may, if they choose, avail themselves of

the advantages7

Dr. Morrison published a number of

booklets such as Assembly's Catechism cFWii$H~ li:l=.Jt~illf~jU!), Exhortation to Read the Scripture and Familiarize Oneself with the Text (ll!bt.f'i.~ !f!F.

,~~OX). Dr. Milne, our first principal, was very active in publishing Christian tracts under the

literary name of Bo-ai-zhe (t\!t'~). One of these tracts, Newly Expanded Summary Explanations

of the Holy Scripture OrM!ll ~ '!=W ~his shown below in Figure 2. He also produced titles such

as Youth's Catechism (f;b~~~H",~) , Tract on Justice (1:.~0-'F~ :fui.r!) , and Tract on Idolatry Ctt'!I J!. t$ tff5) . Rev. Collie , who became our principal in 1827, also published a number of

tracts in Chinese under the name of Zhong-de-

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The Press published a monthly in Chinese

called ~tlt{~'flt J1 ~Jt:Jtr. 1i, perhaps the first Chinese newspaper anywhere, and a quarterly in

English called The Indo-Chinese Gleaner.8 It was

also active in printing educational materials, such

as The English and Chinese Student's Assistant, or

Colloquial Phrases, letters, in English and Chinese,

and Natitia Linguae Sinicae , a book in Latin on

the Chinese language. In 1824, it published

Memoir of the Rev. William Milne, Late Missionary

to China and Principal of the Anglo-Chinese

College, edited by Dr. Morrison himself. We even

regularly printed our own annual reports. In

several of these reports, an appendix was

included, typically expounding a particular

Chinese subject to English readers . The cover of the 1827 Annual Report is also illustrated in Figure

2.

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Figure 2. College Annual Report, 1827 and Christian Tract by Milne

When Milne went to Malacca, Leung Faat,

a printer from Guangzhou, accompanied him.

Leung studied at the College in Malacca, and was

later ordained a pastor. He eventually returned

to China, and was very active in writing, printing

and distributing missionary materials.

In 1840 Cill:J't= + :), Dr. James Legge became the new principal of the Anglo-Chinese

College, and also took charge of the in-house

press. Dr. Legge, following the advice of Mr.]. R.

Morrison, the son of the late Dr. Morrison,

decided to move the College to Hong Kong in

1843. At that time, the College was set up on the

junction of Staunton Street and Hollywood Road on the Island side.

In 1853, the College started a Chinese serial

iE!mffit~, which was probably the first Chinese periodical published in Hong Kong. Issue No.1,

published in August, 1853, indicated that each

issue would cost 15 cash, which was merely a

reimbursement of the printing cost.

In the move to Hong Kong, Dr. Legge took

with him an outstanding Ying Wa old boy, Hoh

FukTong. Ho was not only good at both English

and Chinese, he could also read the Old

Testaments in the original Hebrew language. He

helped with Legge's translation and missionary

work, and was later also ordained a priest9 Dr.

Legge was, of course, known for impressive

translations of a number of great Chinese classics

and related commentaries into English. The

classics translated are li\lat'fr ' ** ' 9=' )j ' ::fu r ' l'iDif' til'~&' ~{)c 'h.:1,. DrLeggeandMr. Hoh Fuk Tong both demonstrated an excellent

grasp of foreign languages, despite a relatively late

start in learning. Their examples really ought to

inspire most of us at Ying Wa, who typically would

have opportunities to learn English (and, of course, Chinese) at a much earlier age.

The Ying Wa Bibles

The Holy Bibles printed in our College in

1823 were among the two earliest complete

Bibles printed in Chinese. 10 They were translated

by Dr. Morrison with the help of Dr. Milne, and

bear the Chinese titles of t$7\:~ if(the Holy


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~ Bible), fH!t ifCthe Old Testaments), and if'Jfm

Q ~ "' ii if(the New Testaments). In the same year, ..... ~

the Press also printed a second run of the New E.!-~ ;:! ;:!

Testaments. Figure 3 shows a picture of the cover ~-of the NewTestaments printed byYingWa in 1823.

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From this cover, we can tell that the emphasis is ~ ~ "'

on the fact that the translation was done from

the original languages of Greek and Hebrew (~

In 1864-66 (ii"J1iJ -=: -1i0f:), the College, now in Hong Kong, published a complete edition

of the Holy Bible in large Chinese types in 9

volumes. The cover of one of the volumes of the

Old Testaments is illustrated below in figure 4.

On the cover, the name of our school, Hong Kong

Figure 3: Ying Wa Bible, 1823

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Ying Wa College, is clearly indicated as the

publisher. As far as we know, this was the first

and only complete Bible printed by the Ying Wa

College in Hong Kong. In 1866, and again in 1869,

it also published two pocket versions of the New

Testaments. 11 One of these was done with

movable types. Contrary to common beliefs, the

Bibles printed in 1864-69 under the supervision

of Dr. Legge were not the Morrison and Milne

version, they were the so-called Delegates version

translated by a committee of missionaries whose

members included Dr. Medhurst , etc 12 Both

the complete Bible of 1864-66 and the New

Testaments of 1866 have print runs of 5,000

copies each. 13 Although many people felt that

the Delegates version was an improvement over

the original Morrison version, some in those days

argued differently, preferring the Morrison

version14

The Ying Wa Chinese Bibles of 1823 and

those of 1860's are significant for two reasons.

First, they were among the first Chinese Bibles

ever printed. Second , even though in two

different versions, they are both in the literary

CX1il), or classical Chinese style; as opposed to the vernacular ( B~JS) style, which became popular later. There were extensive discussions

on what style of Chinese should be used to

translate the Bible. The key difference among the

missionaries was whether to render the Bible in

the classical style , which would appeal to the

intellectuals, or in a more vernacular manner,

w hich would appeal to the masses. Captain

Brinkley summarized the dilemma quite well:

No people attach greater importance to

graces of diction and correctness of style than the Chinese. Refinements of language invest the most trivial subject with a title to respect in their eyes, whereas a theme of vital consequence is at once excluded from consideration by clumsy presentment. The Chinese Bible has never been

rendered into Chinese such as would attract

educated men. It could not be so rendered

without paraphrases intolerable to Christian

purists who hold inflexibly to the alpha and omega of the text. 15

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ll; ~ :t: I jJJ ~ 1 I ~ ~p I ;{8 ~M I 1i

Figure 4: Ying Wa Bible, 1864-66

Selected terms and verses compared

Reading these two editions of the Chinese

Bible side by side with the English and the more

common vernacular Chinese edition of today is a

rather instructive and interesting experience.

Both versions, being early attempts at this

difficult task, are, of course, subject to improvements. For instance, a number of

Christian terms commonly accepted today were,

understandably, not easily translated in Dr.

Morrison's time. Morrison translated Jesus Christ

somewhat cumbersomely as lt~f.!i;f;!t/fiJ'Il:f. This was later simplified to Jt~ f.!i;f;!t'/l:} in the Delegates' version, the commonly accepted term today. He

rendered Paradise as E\:f.fiE&, which today's Bible simply refers to as ~Iii . Dr. Morrison translated Holy Spirit into MM, Dr. Medhurst preferred Mf$. Today, M:m: has become the commonly accepted term. Jerusalem was

translated as lt~&JH!I'~ by Dr. Morrison, a term which survives until today.

There was also a protracted debate about

whether God should be translated as the simple,

generic f$, which Dr. Morrison did; or _t W, which Dr. Medhurst and the delegates preferred,

because it was considered closer to the Chinese

traditional concept of the Supreme Deity. Today,

both terms are commonly accepted and often


used synonymously.

Contrary to Brinkley's perceptions quoted

earlier, grace and style of language does not

necessarily lead to inaccuracy. In some

incidences, the two literary versions

demonstrated both accuracy of translation and

succinctness of the classical language. Several

familiar passages from the various versions of the

Scripture are shown here for comparison.

1) Proverbs, Chapter 12, verses 15-16: During Dr. Morrison's tirrie, the standard English Bible

was the so-called King James version. In this

edition, the passage is as follows: The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearteneth unto counsel is wise. Afoot's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth

shame. The New International Version (NIV), more commonly used today, puts the message

somewhat clearer: The way of the fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult. The common

vernacular edition of the Chinese Bible translated

this message as follows:

m~A~fi~ , ~~B~~~~K~, 'ttt'~A , w~Ai'!~t!J~x o

.~~Aa~~iffi~' .lz:. S~~Ji!t ' iilBA~~~llml~ o

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~ So :...

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Concluding Remarks

This year, our College celebrates its 180th

Anniversary. As an alumnus ofYing Wa, I have

often been awed by the long and remarkable

history of our school. The short article outlined

an aspect of this history - our ro le in the

development of the Bible in Chinese. Many other

aspects of our history are fascinating . Some of

you may be interested in researching them one

day. More importantly, our distinguished history

ought to challenge us. No doubt, the roles of the

College and its students have changed over time.

But, whatever our roles are today, are we striving

to excel in ways that would make our forefathers

proud?

Paul KUA efiif{Jj/:l!fi) Note:

1 For detailed discussions on the early evidences of Christianity in China and the Nestorian tablet see Wang Chih-hsin CEnt 'l,'), History of Christianity in China ("f ~ ;!t'!i~.{)!:'JiffiJ), if1993, chapters 4 & 5; Alexander Wylie, Chinese Researches, 1897, pp. 24-77; or Kenneth Latourette, A History of Christian Missions in China, 1929,pp.46-60.

2 See Wylie, pp. 88-89.

3 There are, of course, older Christian documents such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, etc. They were, :P.owever, written on parchments, papyrus, etc, not on paper. This document was exhibited in the Hong


Kong Museum of Art in June, 1997.

4 These early efforts were by the Franciscans in Yuan Dynasty, and mostly by the Jesuits and the Franciscans in Ming Dynasty. See China: Arts & Daily Life as seen by Father Matteo Ricci and Other Jesuit Missionaries, ed. Gianni Guadalupi, Milan, Italy, 1984, pp. 17-23.

5 See G.W. Sheppard, the Romance of the Chinese Bible, pp. 5-11.

6 See Latourette, pp. 212-213, or Wang, pp. 152-153.

7 See A Brief Statement of the Objectives of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, 1818, printed at the Anglo-Chinese Press, p.20.

8 SeeWang,p .155,Latourette,p.215 .

9 Hoh is the father of Sir Ho Kai, the first Chinese general practitioner of western medicine in Hong Kong, and the first Chinese in Hong Kong to be knighted. See Education in Hong Kong: Past and Present, ed. Joseph S. P. Ting, Urban Council, 1993, p. 30 & p.44.

10 The other one was the version by Dr. Marshman and John Lassar, which was completed in 1822 in Serampore, India. For details on both these two editions, see T.H. Darlow & H. F. Moule, Historical Catalogue oflhel?rinted Editions of Holy Scripture,pp. 181-186:

11 See Darlow & Moule, p.197-9

12 In Lindsay Ride, Robert Morrison: The Scholar and tlie Man, 1957, the Illustrated Catalogue in the back lists the Ying Wa Bible of 1864-66 as exhibit no. 3, and erroneously identified it as Dr. Morrison's own work.

13 See Helen E. Legge,James Legge: Missionary and Scholar, 1905, p. 171

14 See, for example, CritiCal Remarks on Dr. Medhurst's orDE egates' Chinese Version of the First Chapter of St.John's Gospel, 1859, pp.1-20.

15 See Captain F. Brinkley, China: Its History Arts and Literature, Vol. XI, 1902, p. 153.

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