Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SHANGHAI7086
2006-11-28 02:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Shanghai
Cable title:  

AMITY PRINTING PRESS -- CHINA'S BIBLE PUBLISHER

Tags:  PHUM PGOV KIRF CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9711
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHROV
DE RUEHGH #7086/01 3320259
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 280259Z NOV 06
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5296
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0646
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0425
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 0008
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0338
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0317
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0335
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 5614
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 007086 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND DRL/PHD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF CH
SUBJECT: AMITY PRINTING PRESS -- CHINA'S BIBLE PUBLISHER

REF: 2004 SHANGHAI 3118

CLASSIFIED BY: Kenneth Jarrett, Consul General, US Consulate,
Shanghai.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SHANGHAI 007086

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND DRL/PHD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF CH
SUBJECT: AMITY PRINTING PRESS -- CHINA'S BIBLE PUBLISHER

REF: 2004 SHANGHAI 3118

CLASSIFIED BY: Kenneth Jarrett, Consul General, US Consulate,
Shanghai.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (SBU) Summary: During the Consul General's November 20 visit
to Amity Printing Press in Nanjing, Special Assistant to General
Manager Peter Dean said they did not have any substantive
problems printing Bibles in China. Amity Printing Press
produces all Bibles sold in officially-approved Protestant
Churches in China. Amity is a joint venture company owned by
the UK-based United Bible Societies and the Amity Foundation, a
non-profit organization connected to the Chinese Christian
Council/Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CCC/TSPM). According to
the printing press's statistics, Amity has already produced 3
million Bibles in the first half of this year, 1 million of
which were for export. Exports make up 21 percent of the
factory's output. The printing press is building a new factory
that will have the capacity to print approximately 12 million
Bibles per year. Dean said, however, that he did not anticipate
a significant increase in the number of Bibles printed each
year. According to Amity Foundation Associate General Manager
Zhang Liwei, Amity was currently focused on capacity building
and trying to generate more funding from domestic rather than
foreign donations. The foundation's work centers on education,
health and rural development. End Summary.



--------------

Printing Press's History

--------------




2. (SBU) The Consul General and Poloff toured Amity Printing
Press and received a briefing from Special Assistant to the
General Manager Peter Dean on November 20. Amity Foundation
Associate General Secretary Zhang Liwei also attended the
briefing. The printing press, located in a suburb of Nanjing,
prints all Bibles sold in China's officially-sanctioned
Protestant churches. It produces Bibles in traditional and
simplified Chinese, Chinese-English, ethnic minority languages,
and Braille. It also printed other religious publications and
foreign language Bibles for export.




3. (SBU) According to Dean, Chinese printing presses began
printing Bibles shortly after the Chinese government allowed
religious practice in 1979. One of the biggest problems faced
by these presses was obtaining the high-quality thin paper
needed to print Bibles. In the early 1980's, UBS became
involved with some of these presses and began supplying paper
from Finland and the United Kingdom. As UBS became more
familiar with the situation, the need for a high-speed modern
printing plant in China became clear. In 1987, UBS
representatives met with Chinese Christian leaders and signed an
agreement with Amity Foundation to establish the printing press.
UBS covered the costs of building the factory and the local
government, eager for more jobs, provided the land.




4. (SBU) Dean noted that while both Amity Foundation and UBS
were non-profits, the printing press was registered as a joint
venture and paid taxes on its profits. The factory currently
employed 320 people, 140 of which worked in specialty areas.
UBS continued to provide funds for the factory to purchase the
paper to print the Bibles. Because the printing press did not
have to pay for imported paper, it was able to keep down the
price of Bibles. A typical Amity Bible cost 12 RMB (1.5 USD).
He did provide information on the price of the Bibles that were
printed for export.



--------------

Production Numbers


SHANGHAI 00007086 002 OF 003


--------------




5. (SBU) Dean said that between 1987 and January 2006, the
factory had produced 50.3 million Bibles. From January to July
2006, it had already produced three million Bibles, two million
of which were for the China market and one million for export.
Dean provided a chart to CG and Poloff which showed the number
of Bibles produced by the factory every year. According to the
chart, the number of Bibles printed increased significantly in
the period, 2003-2006. From 1994-2002, the factory produced
approximately 2.4 to 3 million Bibles per year. In 2003, the
factory produced 4.2 million Bibles. In 2004 and 2005, the
factory produced 5.4 and 6.4 million Bibles respectively.




6. (SBU) Dean downplayed the increase and said the factory
increased production simply because it had cut down on
production in the mid-nineties and stock levels were low. He
said the only indicative trend he saw was that the demand for
pocket-size Bibles had surpassed the demand for larger Bibles.
Since the print for pocket-size Bibles was small, they were
purchased primarily by young people. The increase in sales
could be seen as an indication that there were more young people
interested in the Bible.



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Bible Distribution

--------------




7. (SBU) According to Dean, the factory made its decision on
how many Bibles and religious texts to produce based on the
number of orders it received from the CCC/TSPM and overseas
clients. The factory was not involved in deciding what type of
Bibles to print. This decision was made by CCC/TSPM in
consultations with UBS. For example, a group was revising the
Chinese-language version of the Bible and would submit the
revised version to both UBS and CCC/TSPM for approval. Dean
said that the group was merely revising the language to make it
more contemporary and there were no theological changes.




8. (SBU) In addition to deciding what type of Bible to publish,
Dean added that CCC/TSPM also decided how many Bibles were
needed every year as it controlled Bible distribution in China.
The factory was involved in so far that it was responsible for
delivering the Bibles and other religious texts to the
distribution points. There were 70 main distribution points in
China that dispersed Bibles to 55,000 churches and meeting
points. To improve distribution, CCC/TSPM also had 44 Bible
distribution vans that transported Bibles from the distribution
points to churches. In order to distribute material, CCC/TSPM
applied for a permit each year that specified how many Bibles
and other religious materials it would distribute in the
upcoming year. It held a meeting every year with
representatives from the distribution points to come up with
this information. Dean said that this should not be seen as an
attempt by the Chinese government to control the number of
Bibles. Rather, he said it was a normal bureaucratic measure
that applied to any organization that wanted to distribute
reading material. He said that since he had been in China,
CCC/TSPM twice had realized that it needed to distribute more
Bibles than had been specified in its permit. Both times it
applied for a new permit and received permission to distribute
more Bibles.




9. (C) Dean offered no particular insights when asked why
Chinese authorities limited Bible distribution to authorized
churches and did not, for example, allow bookstores to sell the
Bible. He said it was inevitable that Bibles would eventually
be commercially available, and heard that this might occur soon.
Reinforcing his point, he provided a copy of a 2003 publication
called "The Words of Jesus" that consisted solely of excerpts
from the Bible. This publication was available at bookstores.

SHANGHAI 00007086 003 OF 003





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Exporting Bibles

--------------




10. (SBU) The factory produced Bibles and other religious
materials in several different foreign languages including
German, South African, and Spanish for export. According to
Dean, from January 2003 until July 2006, 21 percent of the
factory's production was exported. Of the materials exported,
36 percent went to Africa, 26 percent went to Europe, 11 percent
went to Latin America, and 27 percent went to other countries in
the Asia-Pacific region. Dean expected exports to increase
after the printing press moved to its new facilities.



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Expansion Plans

--------------




11. (SBU) According to Dean, the printing press was currently
building a new factory that would be twice the size of the
current one. Construction had already begun and Dean hoped that
the company would be able to move into the new facility in 2007.
The new factory would have the capacity to print 12 million
Bibles annually. Dean said, however, that there were no plans
to significantly increase production. Printing press leaders
just wanted to have the extra capacity in case it was needed in
the future. Dean said, 10 years ago, there was a deliberate
effort to add new equipment and create a second production line.
This was needed in case the first production line went down.
Dean said company management had decided to move after the land
on which the current factory stood was re-zoned into a
residential area. While the printing press could have remained
for another 10 years, management saw the writing on the wall.
If they waited 10 years, then they would end up located even
further from Nanjing, which would make it difficult to retain
their workforce.



--------------

Amity Foundation Update

--------------




12. (SBU) On the margins of the tour, Poloff spoke to Amity
Foundation Associate General Secretary Zhang Liwei about the
organization's operations. Amity Foundation is a volunteer
organization connected to the CCC/TSPM. According to its
website, it implemented programs in areas of need within China,
specifically in the fields of education, health, and rural
development. Zhang said the Amity Foundation currently had no
plans to expand programs and was focused on capacity building
and staff development. The foundation had recently lost a
number of key personnel, many of whom left to find higher-paying
jobs and was now recruiting and training new personnel.




13. (SBU) Zhang also noted that Amity Foundation was also
concentrating on increasing domestic contributions. Only a
small percentage of its budget came from the printing press and
most of the budget came from overseas contributions. This was
not sustainable and Amity needed to increase domestic
contributions. Zhang oversaw Amity Foundation's public
relations department and was responsible for increasing
contributions. He said he was finding his job to be very
difficult and noted that many people in China did not see the
value in making charitable contributions and were only concerned
about making money.
JARRETT