The Amity Foundation () is an independent Chinese voluntary organization. it is the largest

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

in China. It was created in 1985 on the initiative of

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

with the late Bishop K. H. Ting as its founder. Its main objective has been to help develop poorer areas of the country. Amity's headquarters are in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. The organization includes the Amity Printing Company (APC, also sometimes called Amity Printing Press), the largest

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

producer in China. Amity Printing Company opened a branch in Ethiopia in 2016. Amity Foundation has an office in Hong Kong and opened a liaison office in the Ecumenical Center of the World Council of Churches in Geneva in 2017.

Ideals

Some have described Amity as a faith-initiated organization that works with Christians, while others, such as the current General Secretary Qiu Zhonghui, has described it as a

faith-based organization A faith-based organization is an organization whose values are based on faith and/or beliefs, which has a mission based on social values of the particular faith, and which most often draws its activists (leaders, staff, volunteers) from a particula ...

. Various partner organizations have praised the work and activity of the charity. Recently the charitable organisation has been highlighted in both domestic and international media for its action and prompt relief work in China in response to natural disasters.

Activities

*Disaster relief *Support of church-run social work *Support of medical education in China's poorest areas *HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention training *Education in the countryside and for the children of migrant workers, including the

Amity Teachers Program The Amity Foundation () is an independent Chinese voluntary organization. it is the largest charity in China. It was created in 1985 on the initiative of Christians in China with the late Bishop K. H. Ting as its founder. Its main objective ha ...

*Special education (e.g. work with deaf or disabled children) *Taking care of orphans *Environmental protection *Integrated development (e.g. providing basic health care, schooling, clean energy, agricultural skills training and microfinance to a village community)

Amity Printing Company (APC)

The Amity Printing Company (APC, ) in Nanjing is the largest producer of Bibles in China, and one of the largest in the world. It is a joint venture with the

United Bible Societies The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a global fellowship of around 150 Bible Societies operating in more than 240 countries and territories. It has working hubs in England, Singapore, Nairobi and Miami. The headquarters are located in Swindon, Eng ...

. In its first year (1988), it printed 500,000 Bibles on a press donated by UBS. Since 1988, it has published Bibles in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and in several ethnic minority languages, as well as in many other languages for export. It is China's only legal printer of Bibles. The APC has so far published more than 100 million Bibles. Most of the Bibles printed are the

Chinese Union Version The ''Chinese Union Version'' (CUV) () is the predominant translation of the Bible into Chinese used by Chinese Protestants, first published in 1919. The text is now available online. The CUV is currently available in both traditional and simpl ...

(, 1919), the Chinese Bible translation used by the Protestant churches, or the less commonly accepted but more modern

Today's Chinese Version The Today's Chinese Version (TCV) (Traditional Chinese: 現代中文譯本; Pinyin: Xiàndài Zhōngwén Yìběn) is a recent translation of the Bible into modern Chinese by the United Bible Societies. The New Testament was first published in 1975 ...

. Recently the Pastoral Bible used by the Catholic churches has also been printed here. All Chinese Bibles are distributed not by the state-run bookstore chains (such as

Xinhua Bookstore Xinhua Bookstore () is the largest and only country-wide bookstore chain brand in China. History Xinhua Bookstore (in ) was originally established as Guanghua Bookstore (in ) in 1937 in Yan'an under the Propaganda Department of the Communist ...

), but through the network of officially registered Protestant churches. Since China's adoption of the New Regulations on Religious Affairs in 2018 that banned online bookstores from selling Bibles, the APC has been facing difficulty in printing Chinese Bibles. This has caused a shortage of

Catholic Bibles The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Hong Kong.

Sources

External links

* {{China Christian Council and Three-Self Patriotic Movement Foundations based in China Christianity in China Medical and health organizations based in China Bible societies

Ideals

Activities

Amity Printing Company (APC)

See also

Sources

External links