NEW YORK /Christian News/ — For the first time since 1919, the 70 million Chinese Christians¹ worldwide – including the Chinese Christians in New York – have access to an updated Bible in a language each can understand. It provides an alternative to the Chinese Union Version, a translation that is filled with characters that are no longer commonly used and can be confusing to modern Chinese readers in more than 300,000 Chinese churches across the globe.

Beginning March 12, scholars managing the creation of the Revised Chinese Union Version (RCUV) will visit New York churches and congregations to introduce New York’s Chinese Christian communities to the newly updated Bible translation. The scholars will also visit San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston.

“This new Bible translation honors the many Chinese who have paid a high price and waited so long to experience the Bible,” said R. Lamar Vest, American Bible Society president.

“We hope this new translation will allow the nation of China and Chinese readers throughout the world to read, with familiarity and ease, the Bible’s life-changing message,” said Marco Herrera, director of international ministries of American Bible Society.

Versions of the English Bible undergo revisions every 20 or 30 years to keep up with sizable changes within our modern language. Today, there are more than 40 English translations of the Bible available. But the Chinese people have not had an updated and widely accepted Bible translation in their own language for more than 90 years.

Created by scholars from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and America, the Revised Chinese Union Version Bible is carefully designed to be free from biases in language usage based on regionalism or dialects. Twenty-seven years in the making, the Revised Chinese Union Version Bible – produced in collaboration with the United Bible Society and the Hong Kong Bible Society – will be available fall 2010 at Bibles.com.

Headquartered in New York City, the mission of the 193-year-old American Bible Society is to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so that all people may experience its life-changing message.

¹United Bible Societies