On July 25, Friar Raymond Mary Yeung, a member of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, posted the following on his Facebook public group:
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum has been unable to find a suitable printing house for the Catholic Chinese Bibles and therefore has not been able to print the new Catholic Chinese Bibles.
The friar also pointed out, “at present, all of the Society’s stock of Catholic Chinese Bibles has been sold to bookstores, and if the printing problem is not resolved in the near future, there will be a shortage.”
In an interview with the Christian Times in Hong Kong, friar Raymond Yeung revealed that in the past, the Society’s Bible was printed by a printing house in mainland China, but the other party stopped their cooperation because they must apply to the government in order to print. Also, the Society’s original printing volume is not much, and business profits for the printing house are not high. Taking into consideration these two factors, mainland manufacturers will no longer print Bibles for Society to avoid trouble.
He spoke frankly that it is not easy to find a new printing house, because printing Bibles requires a certain technical threshold. Bible production also involves staple binding technology, “which is not available in Hong Kong.”
Friar Yeung mentioned that the Bible Society is basically out of stock, and all Bibles have been sent to distributors and parish schools. Other faith-based publications can be printed in Hong Kong without incident.
As for the printing of Protestant Bibles, the Christian Times reported that Rev. Liao Jinyuan, the Hong Kong director general of the Worldwide Bible Society, pointed out that the Society’s Bibles are mainly printed in Hong Kong and South Korea. Their operation is not affected by the printing situation in China.
The Studium Biblicum version of the Chinese Bible was printed by Nanjing Amity Printing, a joint venture between the Amity Foundation and the United Bible Societies (UBS) in 1988. It is the only printing company in mainland China designated to print Christian Bibles and hymnals and has been printing Bibles for the Catholic Church in China since 1994.
~ Gao Zhensai, Special Correspondent ChinaAid