For the first time, a Communist education authority in China is suggesting that children read the Bible.
Within the next two weeks, the Shanghai Education Commission is expected to publish a recommended reading list for middle school children, which includes Kung Fu novels – and the Bible.
As the Shanghai Daily reported October 19, the office has suggested in the past that students read Chinese classics such as “A Dream of Red Mansions” as well as some Western literature.
This year the list will include the Old Testament and the works of Jin Yong, China’s most popular author of Kung Fu stories.
Education officials note that the Bible plays an important role in Western culture. Chinese students should understand it in order to truly know foreign countries.
In communist China, the Bible is still a scarce commodity, which may only be sold at special outlets for Christians.
According to the Shanghai Daily, some parents are worried that teenagers get involved in religion at an early age.
Ren Xiaomei, a local mother of a 14-year-old boy said: “Reading the Bible at such an age does him no good.”
Teenagers in Shanghai are eager to read the Kung Fu novels, because martial arts are very popular.
“We are no longer asked to only read those monotonous classics,” said Wang Wenjia, a local student.
