Franciscans offer Chinese Bibles in Braille at Hong Kong book fair

Published: 2007-07-24

HONG KONG (CNS) -- Franciscans in Hong Kong have offered the first set of Chinese Bibles in Braille. Franciscan Father Linoel Goh, director of Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Hong Kong, told Catholic News Service July 23 that the Bibles were the first in Cantonese Braille. The Mandarin Braille Bibles were still in the planning stages, he said. A different Braille system is used in Hong Kong and mainland China because of the different pronunciations of Cantonese, spoken mainly in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities, and Mandarin, spoken mostly in mainland China. "It is the only Braille book in this fair," Father Goh said at a mid-July commercial book fair. "We would like to share with the visitors that books have several formats. The blind can read also." The Franciscan priest said the Studium Biblicum started the Bibles for the Blind Project in 2001 and decided to take an active role in producing less expensive and greater quantities of Braille Bibles for Catholics in China.

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