Customer Reviews

The Holy Bible Today's Chinese Version, No 103820 (Item No. 103820)

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Buying a Chinese Bible can be complicated:
Check to see that ISBN matches your requirements

ISBN 9622934579 - TCV Traditional script Hardback
ISBN 9622934773 - TCV Simplified script Paperback
ISBN 9622937772 - TCV Traditional script TEV bilingual Hardback
ISBN 9622930093 - Union Traditional script [Shangti edition]
ISBN 9813099917 - Union Simplified script Paperback
ISBN 9813099844 - Union Simplified script Hardbackk

NOTE:

There are three main versions
- Chinese Union Version CU [hehe-ben] published by the Chinese Govt inside China
- Chinese Union Version New Punctuation CUNP [xinbiaodian hehe-ben] published by UBS
- Today's Chinese Version TCV [xiandai-ben] published by UBS in HK, Taiwan and Singapore
- Chinese Living Bible CLB [tangdai-ben] published by IBS in America
These versions are equivalent to RSV, TEV, and Living Bible respectively. The `new punctuation' version of the Union is not significantly different from the old Union version. PRC Christians tend to strongly prefer the old CU, which is freely available throughout China, but the TCV is a lot easier to read. The CLB is a paraphrase. There are also specialist editions such as NIV-CU, TEV-TCV parallel texts, New Testaments with pinyin superscript and CU or TCV Study Bibles.

There are two scripts
- traditional [fanti hanzi] used in Hong Kong and Taiwan and by overseas Chinese communities.
- simplified [jianti hanzi] used in the PRC and being introduced in Singapore.
Both script types may be printed vertically (read top-to-bottom) or horizontally (left-to-right).

Chinese Bibles are available as Shen Editions or Shangti Editions. Shangti means an edition printed with two characters 'Shang Di' for "God", a Shen Edition means an edition printed with a blank space followed by one character 'Shen' for "God". If not specified it will usually be a Shen Edition. What the difference is between the two terms is open to debate.

Fortunately at least there is no written difference between Cantonese and Mandarin. This distinction is only relevant to audio tapes. Hong Kong Cantonese read traditional script. Over the border in Guangzhou PRC Cantonese read simplified script. Likewise in Beijing they speak Putonghua (their name for Mandarin) but read the same simplified scipt as Guangzhou, and Taiwanese speak Kuoyu (another name for Mandarin) but read the traditional script like Hong Kong. Confusingly the Union Version is sometimes known as the `Kuoyu Bible' in Hong Kong even though there it is usually read out loud as Cantonese.

This is a nice quality Bible in traditional characters. It is a sturdy hardcover with two red ribbon attached bookmarks, and begins at what we English readers would consider the "back" of the book (which threw me when I first opened it and found the index and the maps!). The text is vertical and moves from right to left, and the font is nice and large. God is referred to as "Shangdi" (with reference to the previous Bible review). This was published in Hong Kong.

It is illustrated throughout with simple line drawings, which are identical to those in my father's 1976 Today's English Version (TEV). It appears to be the exact same bible (also published by United Bible Societies), only in a different language. This will help me in my attempt to read it, since I have an English translation of the same book handy! I regret that I have only learned Simplified Chinese so far, but working with this will force me to learn Traditional too.