China’s online retailers pull Bible from shelves as Beijing gets strict on sale of holy text

Searches for the religious book on JD.com, Taobao and Amazon.cn fail to produce results

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The Bible has been withdrawn from many of China’s retail websites in an apparent move by Beijing to strictly enforce rules governing the sale of the religious text. Photo: AFP

Grace Tsoi,Xinyan Yuin BeijingandMimi Lauin Hong Kong

Published: 8:45am, 5 Apr 2018Updated: 11:52pm, 5 Apr 2018

China’s online retail giants have removed the Bible from sale in an apparent move by Beijing to restrict its distribution.

On JD.com, searches for “the Bible” in Chinese yielded no results, while on Taobao, Amazon.cn and Dang Dang, they led to other Christian publications, such as storybooks and Bible study aids.

Taobao is owned by Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post. Neither Taobao nor JD.com responded to requests for comment.

“This probably started on March 30,” a source at a Chinese publishing house source told Inkstone, a new China news portal under the Post. “Some shops on Taobao [selling Christian books] have been closed permanently.”

The apparent crackdown on online sales of the Bible comes as Beijing and the Vatican continue to seek a deal on the appointment of bishops, which if reached could lead to the normalisation of ties between the two that were severed in 1951.

A choir sings during a Mass on Easter Saturday at the government-sanctioned Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing. Photo: AP

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