This article is a bit of a follow-up on the idea of Christian publishing in China. Specifically, it’s looking at an international organization which is raising money to help book publishers in China. Contrary to my last article, this presents a rather bleak look at the Christian publishing in China, claiming that publishers are struggling to maintain business while pricing their books at a rate their customers can afford. Of course, it’s quite possible that this could be true, and not conflict with the previous article about one particular publisher that is doing well. Smaller publishers, like smaller churches, might be having a hard time competing with Chinese government-backed publishers, especially if any of these smaller publishers have an interest in expanding the current government list of approved Christian literature. The author of this article mentions quotes one of the main members of the effort to fund the publishing as saying that he believes Chinese Christians are seeking for new literature to help them know God, so this may not be that far-fetched of a theory.
One of the key differences I noticed in this article, as compared to most of the others I have looked at, was that this publishing effort looks a lot further into the future for its results than the groups involved in the recent upheaval. The results of more expansive publishing of Christian literature would have taken years to really show, but it seems like China’s Christian population may have grown tired of waiting for these slow and less disruptive efforts.
