List of Chinese Bible translations
This is list of the Bible translations to Chinese language.
Bible translations into Chinese began with unpublished manuscripts by individual Roman Catholic priests in the sixteenth century and individual Protestant missionaries in the early nineteenth century. The first complete translation to be published was that of Joshua Marshman in 1813, followed by that of Robert Morrison in 1823. A group of Protestant missionaries in Hong Kong in 1843 started a collaborative translation. The New Testament of their so-called "Delegates Version" was published in 1850 and the Old Testament in 1853. A translation of the Old Testament by Karl Gutzlaff, first published in 1840, was widely distributed and was used by the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion as the basis of their theological study.
The second half of the century saw the publication of Chinese Bibles in regional languages using romanization rather than Chinese characters, the first works printed in the regional language. The Classical Chinese of the Delegates Version could not be understood when read aloud, and towards the end of the century the national missionary body started a revision which used vernacular Chinese. The resulting Union Version, published in 1919, became the standard translation for Protestants and was adapted and published in different forms, including Braille. A Chinese New Version was published in 1992 and a Revised Chinese Union Version in the early twenty-first century.
The Studium Biblicum Version, now the standard Chinese Bible for Catholics, was started in the 1930s and published in 1968. Starting in the 1850s, there have been three Russian Orthodox translations.
[Classical Chinese]
- New Testament by Archimandrite Guri , 1864
- New Testament by Bishop Innokenty, 1910
- New Testament and Paraphrase of Psalms, 1946
[Mandarin Chinese]
Northern Mandarin
- New Testament of Robert Morrison 1813
- Old Testament, 1875
- New Testament, 1870
- New Testament of Griffith John , 1887
- Romanized Vernacular Version New Testament, 1889
- Portions of New Testament for the Blind
- Chinese Union Version, 1919 United Bible Societies, Amity Printing Company
- Studium Biblicum Version, Scotus Chinese Version, 1968 Amity Printing Company
- Today's Chinese Version, 1975, 1979 United Bible Societies, Amity Printing Company
- New Chinese Version, Worldwide Bible Society 1992
- Chinese Living Bible New Testament translation of the International Bible Society 1998
- Pastoral Bible 1999 Amity Printing Company
- New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 2001. Available in , , and .
- Chinese Standard Bible, New Testament, Global Bible Initiative and Holman Bible Publishers 2011
- , 2011-2012
- Contemporary Chinese Version, The New Testament,《圣经．新汉语译本》 Chinese Bible International 2010
- Chinese New Living Translation 《圣经．新普及译本》 Chinese Bible International 2012
- Contemporary Chinese Version, The New Pentateuch,《五經．新汉语译本》 Chinese Bible International 2014
Southern Mandarin
- New Testament, 1856
Western Mandarin
[Wu Chinese]
[Hankou] dialect
- Book of Mark, 1921 using the Wangchao phonetic system.
Suzhou dialect">Suzhou">Suzhou dialect
- New Testament, 1881
[Shanghai dialect]
- Isaiah-Daniel, 1886
- New Testament, 1870
- New Testament, 1870
[Ningbo dialect]
Romanized Vernacular Versions
- Isaiah, 1870
- New Testament, 1850-1868
[Hangzhou dialect]
- New Testament, 1877 by the English Bible Society.
- Gospel of John, 1879 by the Anglican Missionary G.E. Moule
- Gospel of Matthew, 1880 by the English Bible Society.
[Jinhua] dialect
- Gospel of John, 1866
[Wenzhou dialect]
- Matthew-Acts, 1890
- "THE FOUR GOSPELS AND ACTS, IN WENCHOW." was published in 1894 under the title of "Chaò-chî Yi-sû Chī-tuh Sang Iah Sing Shī: Sz̀ fuh-iang tà sź-du ae-djüe fa üe-tsiu t'û", with the entire book in Wenzhou dialect.
[Taizhou (Zhejiang) dialect]
- New Testament
[Northern Min]
[Jian'ou dialect]
Romanized Vernacular Versions- Gospel of Mark, 1898 by the English Bible Society.
- Gospel of Matthew, 1900 by the Methodist Episcopal Mission Press. Translated by Hugh S. and Minnie Phillips.
[Jianyang dialect]
- Gospel of Mark, 1898 by the English Bible Society.
- Gospel of Matthew, 1900 by the Methodist Episcopal Mission Press. Translated by Hugh S. and Minnie Phillips of the American Bible Society.
[Eastern Min]
[Fuzhou dialect]
Character Colloquial Versions- Old Testament, 1875–1884
- New Testament, 1856
- , 1937. Printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society.
- Gospel of John, 1886
- Gospel of John, 1889
- New Testament, after 1890
- , 1908. Printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society in Fuzhou.
[Southern Min]
[Amoy dialect]
Romanized Vernacular Versions- Old Testament, 1852–1884
- New Testament, about 1853-1873
- Gospel of Matthew, for Blind, 1888
[Shantou dialect]
- Genesis, 1879
- Ruth, 1875
- Matthew-1 Corinthians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians-Titus, Hebrews, 1 2 3 John, 1880–1884
- Genesis, 1888
- Jonah, 1888
- Gospel of Matthew, 1889
- Gospel of Mark, 1890
- Gospel of Luke, 1876
- Acts, 1889
- James, 1888
[Teochew dialect]
11 Samuel.
- New Testament, 1915 by English Presbyterian Missionary societies.
Hainan Junjiahua">Hainanese language">Hainan Junjiahua
- Gospel of Matthew, 1891
- Gospel of John, 1893
Xinghua (Puxian) Min">Puxian Min">Xinghua (Puxian) Min
- Gospel of John, 1892 by the American Bible Society.
- Gospel of Mark, 1893
- Gospel of Matthew, 1894
- Acts, 1894
- Gospel of Luke, 1895
[Gan Chinese]
[Shaowu dialect]
Romanized Vernacular Versions- Book of James, 1891 by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
[Jianning dialect]
- Gospel of Matthew, 1896 by the American Bible Society.
- Gospel of John, 1897 by the Bible Society of Great Britain in London.
Hakka">Hakka Chinese">Hakka
- Genesis and Exodus, 1886
- Psalms, 1890
- New Testament, 1883
- Old Testament and New Testament, 1930
- Das Evangelium des Matthaeus im Volksdialekte der Hakka-Chinesen, 1860 by Rudolf Lechler
- New Testament, 1860–1883
- New Testament, 1993 ; Proverbs 1995
[Dingzhou] dialect
- Gospel of Matthew, 1919
[Wujingfu] Hakka dialect (五经富)
- New Testament, 1916
Swatow">Shantou">Swatow Hakka Dialect
- New Testament, 1924
Taiwan Siyen Hakka dialect
- , 2012
[Yue Chinese] (Cantonese)
Guangzhou dialect (Cantonese)
Translations into Cantonese include:Character Colloquial Versions
- Genesis-Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, 1873–1888
- New Testament, 1872–1883
- Gosepel of Luke, 1867
- Gospel of Mark, after 1890
[Lianzhou dialect]
- Gospel of Matthew, 1904 by the American Bible Society. Translated by the Missionary Eleanor Chesnut.
- Gospel of Mark, 1905
- Gospel of Luke, 1905
- Gospel of John, 1905
[Yangcheng dialect]
- Gospel of Matthew, 1862 by the American Presbyterian Church. Translated by Charles F. Preston.
- Gospel of John, 1862
- Gospel of Luke, 1867 by the English Bible Society. Translated by Wilhelm Lauis.
Notable Translations
- Robert Morrison. 耶酥基利士督我主救者新遺詔書 : 俱依本言譯出. Canton, 1813. New Testament.
- 遺詔全書, 1822
- 神天聖書, 1823–1824
- Lassar-Marshman Version
- Morrison-Milne Version
- Delegates Version
- Archimandrite Gury's New Testament and Psalms
- Chinese Union Version, 1904–1919
- Chinese Union Version |和合本, 1919 and , 1935–1968
- New Testament and paraphrase of Psalms by John C. Wu, 1946
- Studium Biblicum Version
- Lü Zhenzhong's version of the Bible
- Chinese Living Bible
- Today's Chinese Version, Dangdai shenjing 1979
- New Chinese Version, 1993
- Pastoral Bible , 1991–1999
- New World Translation, 2001
- Recovery Version, 2003
- Chinese Contemporary Bible
- Chinese Standard Bible
- Chinese NET Bible :zh:NET聖經（中譯本）|NET聖經（中譯本）, 2011-2012
- Contemporary Chinese Version, The New Testament, 《新約．新漢語譯本》, 2010
- Chinese New Living Translation《聖經．新普及譯本》, 2012
- Contemporary Chinese Version, The Pentateuch, 《五經．新漢語譯本》, 2014