Contact: Bob Fu, President, Bob@ChinaAid.org; Mark Shan, Spokesperson, Mark@ChinaAid.org; both with ChinaAid, 888-889-7757, 267-205-5210; www.ChinaAid.org; www.MonitorChina.org

DALLAS, Nov. 1, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- ChinaAid on Tuesday presented to The George W. Bush Institute a portion of the Bible hand-copied in Chinese by house church Christians imprisoned in a labor camp in northwest China as a token of appreciation for President Bush's "dedication to the advancement of religious freedom in China" and his "tireless efforts as an advocate for those Chinese 'in bondage'."

ChinaAid president and founder Xiqiu "Bob" Fu personally presented the hand-written Bible text to former President George W. Bush at a mid-day ceremony.  The Chinese Bible will be added to The Bush Institute's Freedom Collection
(www.bushcenter.com/human-freedom/the-freedom-collection).

In a letter to President and Mrs. Bush explaining the provenance of the hand-written scriptures, Fu said that about a decade ago, a group of about 20 Chinese house church Christians were sent to a labor camp after their 5 a.m. worship meeting was raided by authorities. The labor camp refused to allow them to have a copy of the Bible, but another house church Christian in the same camp managed to get one copy of the scriptures smuggled in. The prisoners began to copy the Bible by hand, book by book.

"These hand-copied Bibles were used by more than two dozen house church Christians in the labor camp for more than a year, sustaining the faith of these prisoners who read them in turn, book by book, in secret in the dark of night," the letter said.  "On the eve of the prisoners' release, the text was smuggled out of the labor camp to prevent them from being confiscated when the prisoners left the camp."

Later, a visitor to the United States brought the text to ChinaAid as a gift on behalf of the house church in China.

On Tuesday, ChinaAid gave The Bush Institute the Book of Revelation that these prisoners had hand-copied.

Fu had earlier been asked by the Bush Institute to record a video testimony for The Freedom Collection, which has a mission to "preserve and share the record of important freedom movements and their leaders through video interviews, collected papers and other materials." When The Bush Institute asked for a sermon text written by a house church pastor or a similar article to add to the collection, Fu suggested the hand-copied Bible text.

ChinaAid, which was founded in 2002 to draw international attention to China's gross human rights violations against house church Christians, monitors and reports on religious freedom violations in China. Drawing on a wide network of sources throughout the country, ChinaAid issues frequent news releases on cases of religious persecution in China. The Midland, Texas-based organization also assists victims of religious persecution to assert their rights and works to promote the rule of law in China.

ChinaAid has earned an international reputation as a reliable source of the most up-to-date information about religious persecution and the overall human rights situation in China. Fu has testified before many government and international organizations, including various U.S. congressional committees, the European Parliament and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

Also attending Tuesday's presentation ceremony as part of the ChinaAid delegation and in whose name the handwritten scriptures were also presented were:

"Heidi" Fu, wife of Bob Fu and Co-founder of China Aid Association, former house church pastor and prisoner of conscience.

Joe Torres, CPA and Chairman of China Aid Association Board

Zhenying Liu, "The Heavenly Man," former house church leader of China and prisoner
Weihan Shi, former Chinese House Church leader in Beijing, imprisoned for three years for printing Bibles in China

"Kathy" Fengbin Lu, former member of the persecuted Shouwang House Church in Beijing

"Esther" Xue Yang, daughter of Linfen House Church leaders; mother was imprisoned for 2 years and released in 2011; father was imprisoned in 2009 and is currently serving a 3 ½-year sentence.

"Grace" Ge Geng, daughter of "disappeared" and presumably imprisoned human rights lawyer Zhisheng Gao. 

Ms. Geng, her mother and her brother came from China to the United States, with high-level US government assistance, during the last few days of the Bush Administration in 2009.