Chinese and the Church

Anything related to Asia and the LDS Church

Paul Hyer

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Paul V. Hyer passed away early this morning. He served a mission, was a Mission President and Temple President in Taiwan. He was instrumental in the building of the temple in Taiwan.
Served: 1982 – 1985
Mission President – Taipei – 1982-1985
Temple President – Taipei – 1988-1990

His funeral will be on February 9th, 2018 in Provo.
http://www.bergmortuary.com/obituaries/Paul-Hyer/#!/Obituary

Here are some links to articles at him.

http://www.ldstaiwanhistory.com/432904486
https://www.fairmormon.org/testimonies/scholars/paul-v-hyer
https://rsc.byu.edu/authors/hyer-paul
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hyer

An upcoming book about the history of the LDS church in Taiwan is due out July 31, 2017. This book is written by a friend and coworker of mine Felipe Chou and his wife Petra. Both have extensive knowledge of the church in that area and have spent the last few years researching and interviewing those who experienced the growth of the church in Taiwan. I am looking forward to reading this book and adding it to my collection! Do yourself a favor and pre-order today. You can buy it on Amazon or Deseret Book. There is also a Facebook group with many posts and more info on the upcoming book. I also have to flyers you can use to share with others. flyer bilingual & flyer chinese

The most recent edition of Mormon Historical Studies is out and has a few great articles on the Church in Asia. You can see the Table of Contents here as well as order a copy.

http://mormonhistoricsites.org/mormon-historical-studies-springfall-2016-vol-17-no-1-2/

Chinese First Edition Book of Mormon

Chinese First Edition Book of Mormon

Early Mormon Missionary Work in Hong Kong: The Letters of James Lewis to Apostle and Church Historian George A. Smith, 1853-1855
by Reid L. Neilson

The LDS Church in Taiwan: the First Three Years
by John Hilton III

The Chinese Scriptures
by Po Nien (Felipe) Chou, Petra Chou, and Tyler Thorsted

This year is the 60th Anniversary of Missionary work in Taiwan. You can view the proceeding via a Facebook group.

2016 Schedule of Events

A great video was made for the Memorial Event. You can watch that here.

On December 20th, 1965 the Chinese Book of Mormon was published for the first time.

Illustration of Early Chinese Book of Mormon

Illustration of Early Chinese Book of Mormon

Work on a Chinese translation of the Book of Mormon started shortly after missionaries arrived in 1955 to Hong Kong. President Grant Heaton, hired a few people to translate portions of the Book of Mormon and then had formed a committee to review the translations. Translation of the Book of Mormon proved difficult and the work was slow. The translation was mostly finished by 1959, but President Heaton felt it still needed work. He was released as mission President and the work on the translation stopped. It wasn’t until Hu Wei-I was called in 1962 to translate 3rd Nephi. Hu Wei-I joined the church in 1959 and quickly started translating church material into Chinese. Hu Wei-I and Larry K. Browning were set apart to translate the Book of Mormon on the 5th of November 1963 by Elder Gordon B. Hinckley and began translation in January of 1964. The translation was finished that July and Hu Wei-I was quoted saying, “It took me seven months; Joseph Smith only needed two.” Publication was on December 20th, 1965 with 3,000 copies and was published in hard and softbound.

Copyright Page from 1965 1st Edition

Copyright Page from 1965 1st Edition

On January 9, 1966 Elder Gordon B. Hinkley presented a copy of the first edition to President David o. McKay. Inside the cover was typed the following text:

This copy of the first edition of the Book of Mormon in Chinese presented to President David O. McKay, who 45 years ago on January 9, 1921, accompanied by Elder Hugh J. Cannon, in the “Forbidden City” of Peking dedicated and consecrated and set apart “the Chinese realm for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored in this dispensation through the Prophet Smith.”

The Book of Mormon is now available in the language which is the mother tongue of more people than any other on earth. May it go forth among them as a witness of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

With sincere respect and deep affection, Gordon B. Hinckley

Further reading:
http://tylerthorsted.com/ldschinese/the-scriptures/
On Either Side – May 1966
That They May Know“, Church News Article January 1966
“Wherever He Leads Us” – Pioneers in Every Land
Herald G. Heaton personal history 1993-2001

China, Japan, and Utah: The Transnational Passages of a Mormon Family

Melissa Inouye gave presentation at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square last month with a interesting and fun look at her family in comparison of how the Chinese and Mormon’s have been portrayed in history. You can watch the whole presentation here: https://history.lds.org/article/pioneers-in-every-land-melissa-wei-tsing-inouye-?lang=eng

LDS.org has been updated to include a web version of the LDS Scriptures in Simplified Chinese. This includes the Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. No Bible at this time.

ChineseScripturesWeb2015

Cantonese is the first non-English language spoken at General Conference. Elder Wong spoke today about Jesus healing the man with palsy and related this to the faith of members helping others.

You can view the entire talk. with English voiceover, here and in Cantonese here. View the article on ksl.com also on Deseret News.

IMG_9452.PNG

Simplified Chinese

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You can now find many resources in Simplified Chinese on LDS.org. https://www.lds.org/languages/zhs?lang=zhs

Simplified Chinese Triple

Simplified Chinese Triple

The Scriptures are only viewable in PDF form, but hopefully soon will be displayed like all the other languages. You can download the Triple here and the Book of Mormon here.

Other resources are now available including the most recent Liahona.

The Asian Mormon Studies Conference held back in March has now posted full videos of each of the presenters.

All Videos: http://asianmormonstudies.org/2014/06/23/conference-videos-are-up/ or http://vimeo.com/channels/752125/

Melissa Inouye from Paris Fox on Vimeo.

Pierre Vendassi from Paris Fox on Vimeo.