A handwritten scroll of Bible calligraphy spanning more than 2,600 meters long has been recognized by the Forbes World Records Certification.
On March 18, Chinese calligrapher Cai Heping received the certificate of "Longest Xingkai Script Scroll of the Bible" from the Forbes World Records.
The certificate reads, "The work measures a total length of 2,602 meters, consisting of 92 volumes, each 28.28 meters long and 33 centimeters wide, with a total word count of 931,689 characters."
Cai Heping, a member of the Chinese Hard-Pen Calligrapher Association, director of the Liaoning Calligrapher Association, and vice president of the Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Art Research Institute, copied the Bible by hand in Xingkai (or semi-cursive) script and traditional Chinese characters for six years.
Although not a Christian, Cai hoped to copy a classic work that would have a profound impact on mankind through the unique art of calligraphy in the East. During the copying process, he rented a cottage in the countryside near Benxi City, with no television and no entertainment, only the original text of the Bible, a lamp, and silence. For more than 2,000 days and nights, he washed his hands thousands of times to copy the Bible.
In June 2024, his work was finally released. Each word in the book is about four square centimeters. Each roll is 33 centimeters wide and nearly 30 meters long.
The handwritten piece also applied for a Guinness World Record on February 19.
From A Dream of Red Mansions to the Bible, Cai, known as "the first person in China to copy Chinese and foreign classics by hand," has written more than 20 million words in 40 years, and the total weight of his works exceeds a ton.
The copy of the Forbes World Records for this Bible scroll will be donated to the local CC&TSPM, said Cai.
(Originally published by the Gospel Times, the article has been edited under permission and the author is a Christian contributor in Liaoning Province.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
