China has once more shown the world how hard its stance is towards anything Christian. The communist country, who does not hide its disdain towards things and traditions that are related to Christianity has just removed certain words from children’s classic books.
According to Christian Post, China wanted to bring Christianity within the control of the government, which was why they opted to remove the words “God,” “Bible,” and “Christ.”
Some of the classics that were taught in school, which have already been “removed and replaced” included Robinson Crusoe, Vanka, and The Little Match Girl.
In Robinson Crusoe, the protagonist discovered three Bibles in the shipwreck and used this to guide him morally. However, in the new Chinese version, the word “Bible” could no longer be found. What was in place became “a few books.”
Another classic which the Chinese opted to “edit” was Vanka. In this story, a prayer was uttered inside the church where “Christ” was mentioned more than once. Because of this, that section was removed. “Christ” was also deleted from the text.
In The Little Match Girl, the new Chinese version replaced the line “when a star falls, a soul goes to be with God” with “when a star falls, a person leaves this world.”
In 2018, the Chinese Communist Party laid down the rules regarding the making of Christianity as one compatible with socialism. They have created a five-year plan on how to bring Christianity under the communist government’s control.
Efforts to make the faith more “Chinese” reportedly included a rewrite of the New Testament using Buddhist scripture and Confucian teachings to establish a “correct understanding” of the text.