BY CHINESE UNION MISSION

A newly compiled hymnal is now
available to Chinese Adventists worldwide, according to the Chinese Union
Mission (CHUM). The new product is the fruit of the painstaking work of many
over a course of seven years. Their efforts included, but not limited to, the
careful selection of hymns, the re-translation of some lyrics, and the addition
of the numbered music notation to the conventional staff notation.

A taskforce comprising nearly two
dozens of Chinese Adventists, gifted in music, language, ministry, and
theology, was organized by the Chinese Union Mission to undertake this massive
project. Its objective was to update the old hymnal to make it more
user-friendly and content-rich to the Chinese Adventists living in the 21st
century.

The old hymnal was first published
48 years ago. It contains many hymns that are rarely sung by congregation.
Today there are many popular, spiritually uplifting, and lively, new hymns that
are loved by Chinese Adventists but are not included in the hymnal. The CHUM
taskforce took out the unpopular ones from the old hymnal and added the new
ones.

The translators made sure that the
newly translated lyrics rhyme, and that they are accurate and easy to
understand. The discrepancies in the number of stanzas in some songs between
the old Chinese Hymnal and the English Hymnal were also reconciled, facilitating
the use in bilingual Chinese congregations overseas.