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) 
 
 
 
¶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. 
 
 
 
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Production Numbers 
 
 
SHANGHAI 00007086  002 OF 003 
 
 
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¶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