page_title: Hakka Bible: Today's Taiwan Hakka Version
section_title: English Presbyterian Mission in China
hierarchical_section_title: Hakka Bible: Today's Taiwan Hakka Version / Historical background / Previous Hakka Bible translations / English Presbyterian Mission in China
caption_attribution_description: English: New Testament, Hakka Language, Printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society at the English Presbyterian Mission Press, Swatow.
context_page_description: The Hakka Bible: Today's Taiwan Hakka Version is the most recent revised Hakka language translation of the Bible used by Hakka Protestants in Taiwan and overseas Hakka communities. Work on the translation commenced in 1984 with the TTHV New Testament & Psalms completed in 1993, Proverbs was published separately in 1995. The entire Bible was made available on April 11, 2012 at the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan's annual General Assembly meeting. An ecumenical dedication and thanksgiving ceremony was held on April 22, 2012 at the National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu with over 1,200 Hakka Christians in attendance.
  The TTHV is currently available in both Romanized Hakka and Hakka language Chinese Characters, and is published in Taiwan by the Bible Society in Taiwan, the Taiwan branch of the United Bible Society with printing of the first 6,000 copies already distributed from Bible printing agencies in South Korea due to their more extensive experience in printing higher quality Bibles when compared to those in Taiwan.
context_section_description: The English Presbyterian Mission (EPM) was the evangelical organization formed by the English Presbyterians for overseas missions. Their earliest missionaries to China included Reverend William Chalmers Burns whom arrived in Xiamen (known at the time as Amoy) and Reverend George Smith following 10 years later  The mission field established by Burns soon became a prosperous one with chapels, schools and hospitals created by fellow workers. For main mission districts were formed by the Presbyterians: The Xiamen District, the Shantou District, the Tainan District and the 'Hakka District'. Within the Hakka District, three mission points were established at Wujingfu (Modern day Jiexi County), Sanhe (modern day Dabu County, and Shanghang County.
  In 1856, the English Presbyterian Mission began sending its members to evangelize in the Chaoshan area and the following year, George Smith established a mission station in Shantou and by 1871 he had entered the Hakka speaking Jiexi County and Hepuo. At Hepuo, he built a chapel. He then return to Britain and recruited two of his colleagues from Aberdeen University - Donald MacIver  and William Riddel  arriving in China during 1879 and 1880 respectively; both of whom can be regarded as one of the earliest English pioneers to evangelize the Hakka people.
  In 1905, the first publication of Romanized Hakka Dictionary was made at Shantou by Donald MacIver of the English Presbyterian Mission  with the dialect being based on the north-eastern regions of Guangdong Province such as Jiaying Prefecture (modern day Meizhou) 
  In 1923, the British and Foreign Bible Society published the revised "Hakka Old and New Testament Bible" (written in Hakka Chinese characters)  in Shanghai.
  It was these British missionaries whom also helped translate the complete New testament into Romanized Hakka using the Pha̍k-fa-sṳ orthography (whereas the Basel missionaries had previously used the Lepsius Romanization for writing in Hakka). It was published in 1924 by English Presbyterian Mission Press in Shantou with the title "Kiu-chú Yâsu kaì Sin-yok Shìn-kin", meaning "The New Testament of Our Saviour Jesus" and printed for the British and Foreign Bible Society. Due to Shantou being situated between the Hokkien and Cantonese speaking populations, the Hakka language used in that region because the main transmission centre for the Hakka language during that period.
caption: The Hakka New Testament published in Shantou, China in 1924.
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