Amity Foundation
{{Short description|Chinese charity}}
{{Further|Protestantism in China}}
{{Further|List of charities in the People's Republic of China}}
File:The Amity Foundation.JPG, China]]
The Amity Foundation ({{lang-zh|s=爱德基金会|t=愛德基金會 |p=Àidé Jījīnhuì}}) is an independent Chinese voluntary organization.{{cite web|url=http://www.chinacsrmap.org/E_OrgShow.asp?CCMOrg_ID=370 |title=Reference in Chinese Charity overview |publisher=Chinacsrmap.org |accessdate=2013-07-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310120104/http://www.chinacsrmap.org/E_OrgShow.asp?CCMOrg_ID=370 |archivedate=2012-03-10 }} {{As of|2010}} it is the largest charity in China.[http://archive.beijingtoday.com.cn/tag/pfrang-association Breaking a circle of ignorance and crime] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529122853/http://archive.beijingtoday.com.cn/tag/pfrang-association |date=2014-05-29 }}, Beijing Today, January 13, 2010 It was created in 1985 on the initiative of Christians in China, with the late bishop K. H. Ting as its founder.{{cite book|author=John Peale|title=The Love of God in China: Can One Be Both Chinese and Christian?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6ViSzgzeckC&pg=PA56|year=2005|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-33619-7|page=56}} Its main objective has been to help develop poor areas of the country.{{Cite web|url=http://www.amityfoundation.org/wordpress/?page_id=14|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311024545/http://www.amityfoundation.org/wordpress/?page_id=14|url-status=dead|title=Amity website|archivedate=March 11, 2010}} Amity's headquarters are in Nanjing. The organization includes the Amity Printing Company (APC, also sometimes called Amity Printing Press),{{cite web|url=http://www.amityprinting.com/ |title=Welcome To Amity Printing CO., LTD |publisher=Amityprinting.com |date= |accessdate=2013-07-10}} the largest Bible producer in China. Amity Printing Company opened a branch in Ethiopia in 2016. Amity Foundation has an office in Hong Kong{{Cite web|url=http://www.amityfoundation.org/eng/|title=Hong Kong Office|last=|first=|date=14 July 2020|website=|access-date=}} and opened a liaison office in the Ecumenical Center of the World Council of Churches{{Cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org|title=World Council of Churches|last=|first=|date=|website=|access-date=}} in Geneva in 2017.
Ideals
Some have described Amity as a faith-initiated organization that works with Christians, while others, such as the current General Secretary Qiu Zhonghui, have described it as a faith-based organization.{{cite book|author=Gerda Wielander|title=Christian Values in Communist China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LYtHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA73|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-97604-2|page=73}} Various partner organizations have praised the work and activity of the charity.{{cite web|url=http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/7158 |title=Christian Aid backs the work of Amity in quake-hit China |publisher=Ekklesia |date= |accessdate=2013-07-10}}{{cite web|url=http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=9039 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707135613/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=9039 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-07 |title=Amity Foundation expands social outreach in China |publisher=Archives.umc.org |date=2006-11-06 |accessdate=2013-07-10 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.globalministries.org/news/eap/amity-foundation-aids-china.html |title=Amity Foundation Aids China Earthquake Victims |publisher=Globalministries.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-10}} Recently the charitable organisation has been highlighted in both domestic and international media for its action and prompt relief work in China in response to natural disasters.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/222031/128257237962.htm |title=Thomson Reuters Foundation | News, Information and Connections for Action |publisher=Alertnet.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-10}}{{dead link|date=April 2023}}
Activities
{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2023}}
- Disaster relief
- Support of church-run social work
- Support of medical education in China's poorest areas
- HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention training
- Education in the countryside and for the children of migrant workers, including the Amity Teachers Program{{cite web |url=http://news.haverford.edu/blogs/amity-foundation/ |title=Amity Teacher blog |publisher=News.haverford.edu |accessdate=2013-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014010140/http://news.haverford.edu/blogs/amity-foundation/ |archive-date=2012-10-14 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rzHiSAAACAAJ&q=%22Amity+Foundation,+China%22+-inpublisher:icon|title=Back to School Program}}
- Special education (e.g. work with deaf or disabled children)
- Taking care of orphans
- Environmental protection{{cite web |author=|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/284081/120715740055.htm |title=Thomson Reuters Foundation | News, Information and Connections for Action |publisher=Alertnet.org |date= |accessdate=2013-07-10 |archive-date=2008-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626063931/http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/284081/120715740055.htm |url-status=dead }}
- Integrated development (e.g. providing basic health care, schooling, clean energy, agricultural skills training and microfinance to a village community)
The foundation also holds the world's largest Bible printer, Nanjing Amity Printing Company.
See also
Sources
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.amityfoundation.org}}
{{China Christian Council and Three-Self Patriotic Movement}}
Category:Foundations based in China
Category:Christianity in China