China (IBS/MNN) ― The Chinese New Year is February 3, 2011, the year of the Rabbit. Biblica is marking the occasion with the release of a new tool that can help Chinese believers.

The Chinese Contemporary Bible (CCB) is now available online at Biblica.com, BibleGateway.com, and YouVersion.com.  Since 29 percent of China’s population uses the internet, that makes this people group the world’s largest online community, with an estimated 384 million members.   Making this tool available to them makes good sense. It is translated into Standard Mandarin, also known as Putonghua, meaning “common speech,” of which there are 873 million Mandarin speakers on the mainland. The revisions reflect the changes in Chinese language, providing opportunity to reach the younger generation, children, and seekers. One young man told translators that “this Bible speaks to my heart because it reads like the language I speak at home.” Although the Chinese Living Bible was released in 1975, a lot has changed in the country. Shortly after its release, the Cultural Revolution ended (1976), but the world was a different place for those emerging from behind the Bamboo Curtain. With the death of Mao Zedong, the People’s Republic of China was left with no central authority figure, either symbolically or administratively. Power struggles ensued, but new thoughts and new ideas were appealing to people. The Gospel spread like wildfire. Since then, Operation World notes the staggering growth of the Chinese Church: from 2.7 million to over 75 million in 2010.

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