SIZE="1">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chinese Union Version (CUV) is the predominant Chinese language translation of the Bible used by Chinese Protestants. It is considered by many to be the Chinese Protestant’s Bible.
The CUV was translated by a panel with members from many different Protestant denominations, using the English Revised Version as a basis and original manuscripts for crosschecking. Work on the CUV began in 1890 and originally, three versions of the CUV were planned—two classical Chinese versions and a vernacular Mandarin
version. The CUV was completed in 1919, with one amalgamated classical Chinese translation and one vernacular Mandarin translation. With the onset of May Fourth Movement , and the associated New Culture Movement, the CUV is the first translated work to be published in Vernacular Chinese.
The CUV in use today is the vernacular Mandarin version, published in two slightly different editions (called the Shen Edition and the Shangti Edition), differing in the way the word ���God” is translated.
The vernacular Chinese language has changed a lot since 1919. Indeed, CUV’s language sounds stilted to modern readers. Furthermore, a lot of Chinese characters used in the CUV have fallen into disuse and cannot be found in commonly-available dictionaries today. As a result, work is underway to modernize the CUV.
The CUV is published by the Hong Kong Bible Society, a Bible society affiliated with the United Bible Societies. However, the text of the CUV has fallen into the public domain.
The CUV is currently available in both traditional and simplified Chinese.
