A Tale of Two Translations: The First Chinese Bibles

Lassar's Bible, Rubenius_Wikimedia Commons

Two volumes (part of an eight-volume publication) of a little-known Chinese Bible made the news recently. They were found in a pile of donations in an Oxfam shop in Chelmsford, England, and were sold together for over £56,000 at auction in March 2025! This Chinese Bible, translated by John Lassar and Joshua Marshman was the first full Chinese Bible to be published.

Bible translation in the Chinese language began as far back as the 7th century, when the first Christians, the Nestorians, introduced Christianity to China. Other translations of Bible portions were carried out by Catholic missionaries in the 16th century, but it was not until the early 19th century that the first full Bible translations were published.

Lassar-Marshman Bible

John (Johannes) Lassar (Hovhannes Ghazarian) (1771–1835?) was an Armenian born and raised in Macau. Macau was then mostly Portuguese speaking, but Lassar’s father engaged a tutor to teach him Chinese. He moved to India in 1804 and was invited to translate the Bible into Chinese at William Carey’s mission centre in Serampore. He began teaching the language to a British missionary, Joshua Marshman (1794–1877), in 1806 and they completed translating the New Testament in 1813. The full Bible was published in Serampore in 1822. It was later revised and used among the Chinese in Thailand for a time.

Morrison-Milne Bible

Robert Morrison at work.

Robert Morrison (1782–1834), a British missionary, arrived in China in 1807 with the intention of translating the Bible into Chinese. In preparation, he had already learned some Chinese from a Chinese student while in England. As it was illegal in China for foreigners to learn Chinese, he worked secretly to study the language and translate with the assistance of a few Chinese helpers. He completed translating the New Testament in 1813. Another British missionary, William Milne (1785–1822), joined him in 1813, but was not permitted to stay in China and so moved to Malacca where there was a significant Chinese community. Together, Morrison and Milne completed translating the Old Testament, and the full Bible was published in Malacca in 1823. Their Bible, following several revisions and other translations, became the basis of the Chinese Union Version, the most influential version in the history of Chinese Christian church, still in use today.

Reflections

Given that the two translation projects were published within a year of each other, why did the Morrison-Milne Bible have more impact and a lasting legacy compared with the Lassar-Marshman Bible? The answer may lie in the circumstances in which the two translation projects were carried out.

1. Learning the language from native speakers. Morrison learned Chinese from native Chinese speakers – first in England, and later in China. Although his studies were conducted in secret, living in China would have provided at least some exposure to the language. Milne learned Chinese mainly from the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. Lassar learned Chinese from a tutor in Portuguese-speaking Macau, and then taught Chinese to Marshman while they lived and worked in India. The different situations in which the four men lived surely impacted their facility in the Chinese language and the quality of their translation.

2. Testing translations with native speakers. It is always necessary to check the clarity, accuracy and naturalness of any translation with native speakers of the language, even more so if the translation was carried out by non-native speakers. The Lassar-Marshman translation was carried out entirely in India, and although there was a small Chinese settlement around Kolkata (Calcutta) 30 km away, it is not clear how much contact they had with this community. Although Morrison was hampered by the secrecy he worked under, Milne’s relocation to Malacca gave them access to the much larger Chinese community there.

3. Encouraging scripture use. Introducing translated portions to the language community as the translation progresses makes it much more likely that the full Bible will be read and used when it is completed. Again, it is not mentioned that the Lassar-Marshman project engaged the Chinese-speaking language community in India, while the Morrison-Milne project worked with the Chinese Christian community in Malacca in the years before and after publication.

The greatest take-away from this “tale” is that Bible translation is ideally carried out with the collaboration of a community native speakers. Even when a draft is produced remotely, or with AI, a sufficient number of native speakers should be asked to assess the clarity, accuracy and naturalness of the translated text. Releasing translated portions to the community as the translation progresses also whets their appetite for more.

Eventually, when the Bible in their heart language is made available to them, it will be welcomed with joy and gladness “because they now [understand] the words that [have] been made known to them” (Nehemiah 8:12).