Visibility of Women Translators and Editors in Chinese Bible versions

The history of the translation of the Chinese Bible can be traced back to 1822 when the Chinese version of The Holy Scripture was first published in Selangor, India by Baptist missionary Joshua Marshman . Since then translation of the Chinese Bibles has continued under the auspices of Bible societies such as Bible Society (formerly known as British and Foreign Bible Society), Worldwide Bible Society, the Catholic church as well as under the leadership of individual translators such as Rev. Lu Chen Chung and independent scholar Feng Xiang. The involvement of women in the translating and editing process has also evolved from a male-dominant team to a more gender inclusive collaborative setting. This paper discusses the importance of women’s involvement in the translation process by first tracing how women’s role in churches were undermined in Hong Kong due to the different interpretations of scriptures based on the Chinese Bible translations. The paper also aims to shed light on how the gender related scriptures were treated by way of comparative textual analyses of biblical annotations across various Chinese Bibles. It can be seen that when women editors and translators are placed in truly leadership roles, issues of women suppression can be addressed more prominently.