''The Chinese New Hymnal'' () was published in the early 1980s and is the main hymnal used by the Protestant churches registered through the TSPM in present-day China.

History

''The Chinese New Hymnal'' was begun being edited in the 1980s when persecution against religion, especially against Christianity, during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

subsided and churches were reopened, with the intention to collect both domestic and overseas hymns. Its "Simple notation (in ) version", using the numbered musical notation system, was published in 1983 and " staff musical notation version" in 1985. The former version is predominantly used in the present-day China. Editors include Lin Shengben, a renowned Chinese hymn composer. The Chinese New Hymnal includes 400 hymns, with the addendum of 40 "Short Songs". In addition to the songs from Europe and the Americas, special effort was made to collect the songs written by the Chinese people, such as those from

Wang Weifan Wang Weifan (; 1927–2015) was an evangelical Christian leader of the state-sanctioned Protestant church of mainland China, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. He was well-loved as a preacher, theologian, and devotional writer. Biography Wang We ...

T. C. Chao Tzu-ch'en Chao (; 1888–1979), also known as T. C. Chao, was one of the leading Protestant theological thinkers in China in the early twentieth century. Life Chao was born on February 14, 1888, in Xinshi, Deqing County, Zhejiang, China. ...

, and Lin Shengben. It was printed by Amity Printing Co. and published by China Christian Council. "The English-Chinese Bilingual New Hymnal" was later published in 1998. This hymnal features two indexes. The first one arranges hymns according to the first notes in the melody and the second one to the first line of text. The Protestant churches in the present-day China almost exclusively select the worship songs from this hymn book. A new printing of the Chinese Union Version Bible by the Amity Foundation in 2004 also incorporates this hymnal under the same volume. Some of the Chinese-written songs have been adopted by the hymnals of other countries. An additional collection of 200 songs used in worship have been compiled and published as a separate volume in October 2009. This addition contains some much-needed titles suited for various occasions as well as newly written pieces. About a quarter of the titles are locally made and the remainder are imported and Chinese lyrics set. The songs are indexed twice in the same fashion as its predecessor. Versions both in numerical and staff notation versions are available. Most of the titles were

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

ed at time of publication. Songs in other hymnals are simpler and thus illiterate and under-educated people prefer hymnals like the ''

Canaan Hymns ''Canaan Hymns'' or ''Songs of Canaan'' ( zh, c=迦南诗选, p=Jiānán Shīxuǎn) is a collection of Chinese hymns composed by Lü Xiaomin, a Christian convert peasant woman with no musical education, beginning in 1990. Lü's theological bac ...

'', used widely in the

Chinese house churches Christianity in China has been present since at least the 3rd century, and it has gained a significant amount of influence during the last 200 years. While Christianity may have existed in China before the 3rd century, evidence of its existe ...

Protestant worship in China

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 ...

of the Bible, the Chinese New Hymnal, the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

as it is written in the

and the

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...

are usually used in the Three-Self churches in China.

References

External links

{{Christianity and China Christianity in China Protestant hymnals Chinese music

History

Protestant worship in China

See also

References

Further reading

External links