Because everything at the factory, including the state-of-the-art equipment and the extra-thin printing paper, are donated, Amity has maintained a decided price advantage over potential competitors overseas. Its Bibles sell for as low as $1.35 for a pocket edition and $2.10 for a hardcover.
All proceeds, Dean said, go back to the company's charity arm to fund social programs for the rural poor in China and help local churches. He declined to provide specifics.
About a quarter of Amity's production is exported, and that is expected to grow with the new factory. Manager Li's crowded office brims with all shapes and sizes of the foreign gospel. He says he is too busy to read the book to which he has devoted 20 years of his life. Instead, he says, he is preoccupied with the quality and variety of the product.
"Here is a Zulu Bible," he said, picking up a bright pink book with a cover that sparkled like broken mirrors. "Some people may want to throw up just looking at this color. Others see it as a potential bestseller, especially if you market it with a pair of pink high-heeled shoes."
All this seemed farfetched two decades ago when Amity opened its plant on farmland donated by the government. As part of the deal, the company had to find jobs for the 320 residents. None had any experience running a printing press or reading the Good Book, but some have since converted to Christianity.
"Before I came to work here, I had never heard of the Bible," said Yi Shuhong, 40, a 20-year employee. "No one in my family believes in God. But they are not against me for converting."
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chingching.ni@latimes.com
