The trials and blessings
of copying
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| Cheng Fei, a farmer who combined his interest in calligraphy with his desire to proclaim God’s love by copying the entire Bible by hand. Taixing, China. Photo: Unspecified (PRC03DJ-9.JPG) |
TAIXING, Jiangsu province, China — Cheng Fei, a 45-year-old farmer, is a Christian who decided to combine his interest in calligraphy with his desire to testify to God’s love. In March 1999, he embarked upon a highly ambitious project: making a copy by hand with his calligraphy brushes of the entire Bible.
Such work requires total concentration and takes a great physical and mental toll. The smallest error meant that the entire sheet was rendered useless, so Mr Cheng had to ensure that he shut himself away from all distractions. After having to re-copy sheets many times, he eventually decided to literally lock himself in his room until he had produced four perfect pages each day. Ignoring considerable pain in his wrists, he worked on through both cold weather, when he was unable to heat his room because the fumes from the heater made him cough and affected his work, and hot weather, when he could not cool his room with a fan because it blew his papers around.
Throughout the time he spent writing 2,583 pages by hand, his family faced financial difficulties. At one point, he found a job in another province which promised to allow him to both earn some money and continue with his project. However, he was robbed of his first month’s earnings and decided to return home, simply relieved to still have his manuscripts, “which are more valuable than money to me”.
Pouring his heart and soul into his work, Mr Cheng was able to complete his handwritten Bible in two years, ahead of his original goal of three years. As he made the finishing touches, the elation in his heart at being able to glorify God in this way “just could not be described,” and his joy was complete when his manuscripts were bound into book format. (WR 377/12 - 6.03)