In April, it was announced that there would be a ban on online Bible sales and Christian books in China.
Important books for other major religions, such as the Qur’an and Buddhist sutras, were not taken down and are available online in China, and the Qur’an has a Chinese ISBN number, whilst the Bible does not.
Although being the world’s largest producer of Bibles, the Bible has never been entirely legal inside the country. It has always been ‘classified as an internal publication for internal distribution within and by registered Christian churches only’, according to Joann Pittman, Vice-President of China Source, a non-profit organisation supporting the Chinese Church.
