Acknowledgments -- List of figures and tables -- List of abbreviations -- Conventions -- Introduction -- The emergence of the Mandarin Protestant Bible and the idea of Tongxing Mandarin in Chinese Protestant Bible translation -- Mandarin : the Lingua Franca of the officials or the common language? -- Was there a standard Mandarin? -- The emergence of the Mandarin Protestant Bible -- Towards a Tongxing Mandarin : a prelude to Mandarin as the national language of China -- Institutional patronage and the Mandarin Bible as the Tongxing Bible in China -- The British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) -- The BFBS in China -- How did the BFBS promote Mandarin Bible translation and circulation? -- Financial sponsorship -- Honorary roll -- Colportage system -- The BFBS'S ideological control over Mandarin Bible translation -- The Greek text of the Mandarin Union version -- The 'Without note or comment' principle and the BFBS'S translational helps for the Mandarin Bible -- The use of the Mandarin Bible and the promotion of Mandarin as Guoyu -- The Mandarin Bible, the building of a biblical and literate Chinese church, and the promotion of Mandarin as Guoyu -- How did the Mandarin Bible as a text promote the use of Mandarin as Guoyu? -- In Church-related settings -- Outside the Church -- Biblical Mandarin and modern Chinese lexicon -- Fandui 反對 -- Shijie 世界. -- Xiaoxi 消息 -- Yijian 意見 -- Ziyou 自由 -- Biblical Mandarin and modern Chinese grammar -- The transposition of yinwei 因為 subordinate clause -- The expanded uses of the bei 被 passive construction -- The increasing use of yi 一 as a marker of indefiniteness -- The expanded uses of zai 在 -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index of biblical verses -- General index.

This book represents the first monograph-length study of the relationship between Protestant Bible translation and the development of Mandarin from a lingua franca into the national language of China. Drawing on both published and unpublished sources, this book looks into the translation, publication, circulation and use of the Mandarin Bible in late Qing and Republican China, and sets out how the Mandarin Bible contributed to the standardization and enrichment of Mandarin. It also illustrates that the Mandarin Union Version, published in 1919, was involved in promoting Mandarin as not only the standard medium of communication but also a marker of national identity among the Chinese people, thus playing a role in the nation-building of modern China. – publisher note.

Local access dig.pdf. [Mak-Protestant Bible translation.pdf]