Some Statistics on Bookstores and Publishing in China
I have been able to meet several different Christian workers in Beijing since being here. One of the guys that I recent met with is involved in legally publishing Christian books in China. It was encouraging to be able to speak with him and I thought I would share some statistics about the subject from their website. I am sure many of these will surprise you!
Some Statistics on Bookstores and Publishing in China
- There are 167,000 bookstores in China of which 43,000 are state owned. The balance are private – about 120,000 bookstores.
- There are 300 online bookstores.
- In 2003 there were about 15 private Christian bookstores in China. Today there are approximately 150 with a new store opening every month.
- Of the 577 publishing houses that have the authority to issue ISBN numbers (a licence given by the central govt): 37 are alligned with various Beijing government administrations; 9 are publishing groups; 101 are university presses; 413 are provincial which are often not known or distributed outside of their province. They represent 60% of the market share of all book publishers in China.
- There are 10,000+ private book companies that are “allowed” to edit, design, print, market, etc. They do not have the authority to issue ISBN numbers and so they must go through one of the publishing houses.
- There are approximately 6 to 8 private Christian publishing companies. Many house church members (even in Beijing) are still unaware that it is possible to legally buy a Christian book.
- In 2002, more than 60,000 titles were published in China, only 36 of them were Christian. In 2002, one Christian bookstore in Shanghai stocked more than 60 titles. Today, they sell about 600.
- China’s literacy rate is 93%.
- 50% to 60% of publishing revenues are text book related. Scale and profits are declining due to “free content” and “sharing.”
- There are 50,000 libraries which are primarily located in colleges and schools. There are only 2,000 public libraries. Consequently, in many locations the private bookstores have become the local libraries with the aisles filled with people reading books.
- The top publisher is Higher Education Press (or possibly China Machine Press) with 2.56% market share. Higher Education Press (HEP) releases 2,000+ new titles every year. They annually sell over 121 million units and have $343 million in annual revenues. A woman representing HEP said that book publishing in China is a “fast changing world” including “digital” and “customized” publishing. She added that to succeed HEP is pursuing “innovation, globalization, and partnerships.”
- The top 10 publishers have 25% market share. Compare this to the top 10 trade book publishers in the USA which have 71% market share. It is clear that book publishing is still developing and not concentrated, representing great opportunities.
- Currently, the total number of Christian books in legal circulation is about 600. Reformed books are a very small fraction of that amount.
Source: Robert Morrison Project
“they cannot destroy the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ”
“They used persecution, violence, handcuffs, swords, labor teams and prison. They shamed us in public displays, took away all our rights and privileges of daily life. They have closed our churches, burned our Bibles and put our pastor in jail, but they cannot destroy the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Chinese Christian
Carl Lawrence, The Church in China (Bethany House Publishers, 1985), p. 35.
01.13.12
January 13th in China Missions History
Adapted from:
AustinGardner.net’s January 13th in World Evangelism HistoryOn this day in 1887, C.T. Studd gives away his entire inheritance to the work of Christ. In his father’s will, it stipulated that when the C.T. Studd turned 25, he would receive his share of the inheritance. By this time, Studd had already spent two years in Chungking, China, working with Taylor and the China Inland Mission. Already, he had given up a career as one of the most successful cricket players in all of England. Already, he had given up the comforts of a plush, social life filled with ease. Already, he had left family and friends behind. But now, he was faced with yet another decision: what would he do with his inheritance? He was about to receive £29,ooo. It is hard to determine the average worth of this amount to today’s currency, but by using this site and this information, we estimated the modern value of his fortune would have been between £20 to £30 million, or $30 to $45 million. This is a massive amount of money to be handed to a 25 year old. But what would he do with it?
Studd sought out council from several friends, including Hudson Taylor. But what rang truest to him were the words of Christ to the rich young ruler in Mark 10:21, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” Studd writes:
“One day, when I was reading the harmonies of the gospels, I came to where Christ talked to the rich young man. Then God seemed to bring back to me all the vows I had made. A few days later, the post which only came every half month brought letters from the solicitor and banker to tell me what I inherited. Then God made me just ordinarily honest and told me what to do…God had promised to give a hundred fold for everything we give to him. A hundred fold is a wonderful percentage…10,000%””
And so he gave it all away. 20% went to the Salvation army’s work in India, which was used to send out 50 new officers throughout the country. 20% went to George Muller, for both the work among the orphans and the mission work he did in foreign fields. 20% went to D.L Moody, who used the money to start a small school in Chicago, called the Moody Bible Institute. 20% went to George Holland for his work among the poor in London. The rest was distributed to other works and friends, especially among the CIM. His last act was to give about 2 million pounds to his fiance, so she wouldn’t be in need or want during their work together. Her response? “Charlie, what did the Lord tell the rich man to do?” “Sell all.” “Well then, we will start clear with the Lord on our wedding!” and she gave her money away too. In a poem Studd wrote, he ends with this, “Only one life,’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Source: C.T.Studd – Cricketer and Pioneer By: Norman Grubb | Studd’s Poem
Documentary: The Cross – Jesus in China
Almost four hours covering 50 years of Christianity in China, this four part documentary called “The Cross” brings history to life. Interviews with those who have been through the persecution and decades later are still loyal to the Lord Jesus. If you have read anything about the the history of Christianity in China then this documentary will help bring color to those black letters of the page.
With the documentary being four hours long, it does get repetitive in style. For the student of missions, you could watch the first part, but for those really interested in learning about missions in China, I would recommend watching all four parts.
I watched part of this before reading the book, Jesus in Beijing, but watch the majority of it after I finished reading that book. The two work and re-enforce each other.
Here is part of the editorial review:
This documentary, The Cross: Jesus in China, portrays the little known history of a remarkable people; it is the turbulent 50 year history of Chinese Christians on screen! For the first time, the history of Christianity in China, especially within the House-Church movement, is given in an honest and comprehensive account. The film answers the question raised by many people outside China: how did the number of Chinese Christians increase from 700,000 in 1949 to approximately 70 million today despite communist control? Using live footage and interviews, the film captures the true stories of many people and seeks to answer the most common questions: how does the Chinese government deal with Chinese Christians and vice-versa? How have Chinese Christians developed, survived and grown? What kind of people are they and what influence have they had and will they have on Chinese society? The documentary film consists of three episodes and one short subject. It lasts about four hours. The episodes are: Seeds of Blood, The Bitter Cup, The Spring of Life, and The Canaan Hymns.
I thought this documentary was encouraging, helpful, insightful and taught me many things as well.
Note: There are two parts of the documentary that seem unnecessary but for some reason were included in the documentary therefore some viewer discretion is advised.
01.11.12
Book: Jesus in Beijing
Over the past few days, I finished reading the book “Jesus in Beijing” by David Aikman. The cool part is that I am in Beijing. There are even parts of the book where he talks about the district that I am currently staying in. Besides the romanticism of reading a book about Christianity in China while living in an apartment in the capital of China, I really enjoyed the book. I thought the book helped piece together many things that I have heard and researched myself. It also helped me understand and taught me many things as well.
The book is definitely best when the author is reporting the stories and not giving his commentary. He does tend to take one situation and apply it across the board, painting everyone with one stroke. Though he makes some wide assumptions and draws conclusion that I wouldn’t, I thoroughly enjoyed him reporting the history of Christianity in China via the lives of those who lived it. For the most part he gives real names and even pictures of those that he reports on. (Also, the back of the book includes translations of important documents.)
The book inspired me, challenged me, and made me think about the current situation in China. It made me respect those who went through so much for the name of Christ, helped me understand better how the government responds to things, and also made me wonder about what more we could be doing today.
I recommend this book to any student of missions in China; it is a valuable resource and a must read. If you are just curious about Christianity in China or want to hear the history of her story, then this is also a great book for you to read.
January 10th in China Missions History
Adapted from:
AustinGardner.net’s January 10th in World Evangelism HistoryOn this day in 1856, Hudson Taylor and some of this native workers were attacked by a small group Chinese men. Taylor and his workers had been traveling along the river in their boats handing out tracts and booklets they had translated. Once a crowd would gather, they would stop and teach them out of the Bible. At about noon, they returned to their ships to break for lunch. As was common, a large group of people was waiting at the dock to receive books and hear them teach. Taylor told the crowd that he needed a break before he began and went into his boat to eat. He records what happened next:
“I had only just poured out a cup of tea, when a battering began, and the roof was at once broken in. I went out at the back, and saw four or five men taking the large lumps or frozen earth turned up in a field close by, and weighing, I should suppose, from seven to fourteen pounds each, and throwing them at the boat. Speaking to them was of no use; and it was not long ere, by this means, and by battering at the side with the plank placed to walk on and off by, a considerable part of the house of the boat was broken to pieces, and no small quantity of earth covered the things inside. Finally, Dzien (One of the native workers) got a small boat that was passing to land him a short distance, and by a few tracts he drew our assailants away, and thus ended the assault. We now learned that…the cause was our not having satisfied their unreasonable demand for books.”
10th Largest City in the World: Shanghai, China
An Overview of Shanghai
Shanghai, a coastal city in eastern China, is also the largest city in China, the richest city in the country, an extremely large industrial hub, and the 10th largest city in the world. Located in the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China, Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the middle portion of the Chinese coast. The municipality borders Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces to the west, and is bounded to the east by the East China Sea. Once a fishing and textiles town, Shanghai grew in importance due to its favorable port location and is now the commercial and financial center of mainland China and is the busiest container port in the world. Though it is a mega-city today, it did not become an official city until 1927.
Over 98% of Shanghai’s residents are of the Han Chinese ethnicity, while 1.2% belong to various minority groups. However, the minority population has grown by 165.54% since 2000, much faster than the overall population growth.
Religion in Shanghai
There are many different and diversity religious sites in Shanghai, such as the City God temple (pictured above), a temple to Guan Yu, and the Jade Buddha Temple. The Saint Ignatius Cathedral is one of the largest in the world, and during World War 2, several Jews fled from Hitler to Shanghai. The famed Watchman Nee worked from this city, as well. It was from here that he based his speaking and publication ministry.
While it is difficult to find an accurate religious breakdown of the Shanghai, it is safe to say that the majority (over 85%) of the population is Buddhist or Taoist. Christianity, even the false Christianity such as Catholicism, though it has a small presence, is still the great majority. The majority of the “Christianity” there is a false kind and has no true salvation.
Would you pray that God would send laborers to this city and country to lift His name high?
Source: AustinGarnder.net
Evaluation of Language Studies | Month Fifteen
1) Teaching. This month I started to help teach with the “college guys” Sunday school class. The lesson is provided, so I just have to study my part and then teach it within 5-10 minutes. I really enjoyed this, though parts are challenging. Also, I was able to go over the lesson with the teacher during the week, him teaching me the Chinese and me helping him understand the Bible.
2) Reading. I stopped reading the book that I mentioned last month because I felt I was wasting too much time looking up new words instead of spending the time talking with my teacher. We changed to more of a “discussion setting” using new words as our topics (but with everything already provided, so as to not waste time, just talk). This seemed to work a lot better for the designated time of one-on-one.
3) Characters. My Character learning isn’t going how I planned it, as I am not finding that extra time in each day that I was hoping too, but I am learning more and more each day! How? Through texting. Now that I have a phone than can help me text characters easily and look up the ones I don’t know, I can comfortably text and communicate using characters with friends.
4) Listening. This is a goal for the upcoming month.
5) Abrupt Stop. On the last day of the month we had to go to Beijing because of my wife’s health and we will be here until the baby is born. I will be trying to continue my language studies, but will not be in formal “language school” again until the baby is born and we can return to our city.
Read last month’s evaluation: Evaluation of Language Studies | Month Fourteen
A Scary Cold Early Morning (2 of 2)
Continued from: A Scary Cold Early Morning (1 of 2)
By this time our friends are starting to arrive and they take care of our daughter and help us with translation.
After the ultrasound, we get the report and take it back to the doctor who looks at it and notifies us there is nothing wrong with the baby and my wife isn’t in labor (but she still is in agonizing pain). She orders another ultrasound. Eventually she decides to admit her into the hospital, so I had to run back down get money out of the ATM again, pay the admission fee on the other side of the hospital as our friend helped my wife make her way to the other side of the hospital as well.
They showed us her room, a room with 7-8 beds and all the beds were full, but they were going to make someone get up so she could have a place. “All the other rooms are full”, they said. My wife was in too much pain to lay down anyways, so we opted out of the room (laying made the pain worse).
The doctor’s refused to give her any pain medicine saying if they didn’t know where the pain was, they could find the problem. Several doctors and nurses came, asked the same basic questions, gave their opinion, and walked away mystified. They ordered more test and finally took her blood. The doctor that she normally sees, was called and she came in. After some discussion with her, she agreed to give my wife pain medicine if we signed a waver releasing the hospital from liability if they couldn’t find the problem because of the medicine. As the pain medicine started to take effect and they did more test, they finally found the problem, an infected gallbladder.
After receiving some advise from the doctors here and the States, we decided it would be best to go head and go to Beijing in case she needed to have surgery. We were already scheduled to fly there the following Friday so we had the tickets moved to that afternoon. They started her on medication, gave her some pain medicine and then we left to pick our things and head to the airport.
(Once we knew we should go to Beijing we were worried because we didn’t have our passports to fly, since they were at the visa office. I called and thankfully, they were done and ready to be picked up!)
Once we arrived in Beijing, we took a taxi straight to the ER and they admitted my wife, having all the paperwork and test from the other hospital. They decided to try and fight the infection and do the surgery after the baby is born (so the surgery doesn’t cause any complications with the baby). After a few days (and 46 hours of no eating or drinking) she was finally released. She is doing fine now and we are waiting the delivery of our new little girl (around Feb. 3)! The doctor recommend to have the surgery sometime after the baby is born but before we return home.
It was an eventful several days, and we are thankful for all those that prayed for and cared for our family. We are thankful for to the Lord for taking care and watching over us.
Meeting Christians and a Local Church
This past Wednesday we participated in a prayer meeting of a house church here in the city. This church was started by another missionary family that has lived here for several years and we are excited to be involved with this church family during our stay here.
On Thursday, I received a text saying that some of the members of the church wanted to help my wife by picking us up for church on Sunday morning. So this morning, two of the church members picked us up at our apartment and drove us to church. On the way to church, we would come to a stop light and a beggar would be walking to each car asking for money. I watched as he came over to our car and the man driving rolled down the window handed him some money, a gospel tract, and told him “Jesus Loves You!” This is something I have done in our city many times and I was excited to see them reaching out in a small way, without fear, as someone came by in need.
We had a great Sunday morning service (with a good attendance), then Sunday School, and ended with us all eating together.
When we finished our meal, a gentlemen offered to drive us home. On the way back, I asked him many question about Beijing and Christianity (since he was originally from here). Here are a few interesting points from our conversation:
- He was saved and baptized in a government church, but since then has distanced him self from it seeing many doctrinal errors.
- From the time that he heard about Jesus in college till the time that he believed, was about eight years, because of pride and not thinking he was in need of a Savior.
- He would guess that about 50% of the people in the city have heard of Jesus but don’t know what He did or why He came.
- There are many house churches in the city; too many to count and really know the exact number.
- Also, he would estimate that a low number of the people in the government churches are truly born again (if a house church is 80/20 then a government church might be 20/80).
I am looking forward to meeting more Christians and other local churches in this city!